US: Texas scientist's work helped COVID-19 vaccine

Jason McLellan, a structural biology professor at University of Texas in Austin is among a cohort of researchers that helped design critical components of mRNA vaccine that Pfizer delivered thousands of doses to hospitals around US, including University of Texas at Austin's medical school.

"We were able to come up with a method of producing spike proteins from coronaviruses in a stabilized form, in a form that exists on surface of virus," professor said.

McLellan's research factors into five COVID-19 vaccines that have started or completed "Phase 3" trials. Those include newly deliver Pfizer vaccines, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, vavax and CureVac.

McLellan explained use a version of virus' spike protein created by his team toger with lab of Barney Graham, a National Institutes of Health scientist at Vaccine Research Center.

McLellan has studied coronaviruses with Graham since 2013.

y have mapped in vigorous detail structure that spike protein virus uses to infect cells and have helped engineer protein in such a way that it can be sued in vaccines to produce a strong antibody response.