TS-000971 — The novel disease Coronavirus, also denoted as COVID-19, was recognized by the World Health Organization as an unknown etiology in December of 2019. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a disease that presents flu-like symptoms that is caused by coronavirus (SARS-CoV). The current pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is causing tremendous economical, emotional, and public health burdens. A team of researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have reengineered a live attenuated recombinant mumps virus to create a novel SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for infants and children under the age of twelve. As vaccination is the most effective strategy to prevent infectious diseases, this development is instrumental to the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic.

TS-000403 — Stability is a major challenge for live attenuated vaccine candidates because of the ability of viruses to revert to the wild-type phenotype. Virologists at Nationwide Children’s have shown that m6A-deficient viruses trigger high innate immune response while ensuring sufficient attenuation and enhanced genetic stability. As result, this method could make the rational design of live attenuated vaccine candidates for human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and other similar viruses.

TS-000372 — Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most frequent cause of lower respiratory disease and hospitalization in infants, but there is currently no vaccine available to prevent or treat RSV disease. Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University have developed a novel method for designing RSV vaccines using a Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) vector. VSV is attenuated in humans, so it can infect people and express inserted genes without causing disease. Additionally, VSV grows to high titers in culture, allowing for efficient vaccine production.

TS-000329 — There is currently no vaccine available for protecting against Zika virus (ZIKV) infection and disease. Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University have developed novel candidate ZIKV vaccines that use vesicular stomatitis virus to express ZIKV proteins. The protection conferred by our vaccines does not rely on antibodies against the ZIKV envelope protein, eliminating the potential problem of antibody dependent enhancement of other species of flavivirus. Our candidate vaccines are highly attenuated while still inducing a protective immune response against ZIKV infection.

TS-000214 — Preventing RSV attachment protein cleavage in vaccine producing cells to increase yield.

TS-000187 — Pneumoviruses include many important human and animal pathogens. Among these viruses, human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and metapneumovirus (MPV) is a leading cause of acute respiratory tract infection in infants and children. Despite major efforts, there is no vaccine to combat these diseases due to the difficulty of constructing a virus that is stable, attenuated and can still provoke an adaptive immune response. Infectious disease experts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University have developed a panel of recombinant RSV (rhRSV) and MPV (rhMPV) that are defective in zinc binding activity. The inability of these viruses to bind zinc has rendered them genetically stable and highly attenuated in an animal model. Therefore, our rhRSVs and rhMPVs are excellent vaccine candidates for hMPV.

TS-000132 — Mutation of the RSV NS1/2 proteins to attenuate the virus and boost immunogenicity