你关心的新冠病毒疫苗，有新进展了！(1)

The first batch of vaccines against the novel coronavirus has produced antibodies and undergone animal testing, an official of Zhejiang province's Science and Technology Department in East China said at a news conference last Sunday.

Song Zhiheng, deputy director of the department, said the recombinant adenovirus vaccine has begun cultivating recombinant virus and entered animal trials recently.

视频来源：钱江晚报

另外，浙江省基础研究领域重大突破，西湖大学浙江省生物实验室，利用冷冻电镜技术，成功解析了新冠病毒受体ACE2的全长结构。

Westlake University and the provincial biology laboratory successfully resolved the receptor of coronavirus by applying cryo-electron microscopy, a technique performed on cryogenically cooled samples and embedded in an environment of vitreous water.

21日凌晨，西湖大学再次发布科研成果，解析了全长ACE2与新冠病毒S蛋白受体结合域的复合结构，对发现和优化病毒进入细胞的抑制剂有重要作用，也进一步提升了我们打败病毒，战胜疫情的信心。

A laboratory under Westlake University, a private university cultivating high-level talent in advanced technology, disclosed the structure of the ACE2 receptor, the channel for novel coronavirus to enter cells, under cryo-electron microscopy in a paper released last Friday.

此前，中国另一个科研团队也开始了新冠病毒疫苗的动物试验。

2月10日，在中国疾控中心1月24日成功分离我国首株新型冠状病毒毒种仅两周时间，由中国疾控中心、上海同济大学医学院和上海生物技术公司斯微生物组成的科研团队宣布，最新研发的新型冠状病毒疫苗已经开始动物试验。

据第一财经报道，这款疫苗新疫苗的样本已经在100多只健康的小鼠身上注射。

Animal testing is a must for any vaccine before it's put to public use. Researchers at Tongji University in Shanghai use healthy mice to test some of the latest coronavirus vaccine samples.

These vaccines are co-designed and developed by China CDC, Tongji University and a Shanghai vaccine company. After getting the antigen from China's CDC in late January, Dr. Li Hangwen and his team have spent two weeks producing these multiple types of m-RNA vaccine samples.

同济大学附属东方医院院长刘中民教授在接受央视采访时表示：

小鼠试验只是对候选疫苗的初步筛选，在通过对有效病毒抗体的搜寻后，就会进行毒性检验，这会使用到猴子等大型动物，以保证疫苗进入到人体临床试验的安全性。

Liu Zhongmin, president of Shanghai East Hospital under the Tongji University School of Medicine, told CGTN that mouse testing is just a preliminary screening for candidate vaccines. After searching through effective antibodies against this virus, the candidate vaccine will continue onto a toxicological test, which will need larger animals such as monkeys. That will allow us to gauge the safety of the vaccines before applying for clinical testing.

刘中民教授也说道，基于mRNA的疫苗开发是至今为止最有效和最先进的方法之一，大大地缩短了疫苗的研发周期。

President Liu said this kind of mRNA-based vaccine is one of the most advanced and unique vaccine production technologies, and it has a shorter preparation time and higher efficiency.

科技部：疫苗最快4月下旬申报临床试验

2月21日，国务院应对新型冠状病毒感染肺炎疫情联防联控机制举行新闻发布会，介绍科技创新支撑疫情防控有关情况。

会上，科学技术部副部长徐南平在介绍新冠肺炎科技攻关工作时表示，在疫苗研发方面，多路线部署并行推进研发，预计最快的疫苗将于4月下旬左右申报临床试验，就目前而言，我国各类技术路线的疫苗研制都基本与国外同步。在动物模型方面，完成了小鼠、猴、感染新冠病毒动物模型的构建，为药物的筛选、疫苗的研发以及病毒传播机制的研究提供了科技支撑。

The fastest vaccine candidate targeting the novel coronavirus is expected to begin clinical trials in late April, according to Xu Nanping, vice-minister for science and technology last Friday.

China has adopted multiple technological approaches at the same time to fast-track the development of a vaccine for the new virus, he said, adding that the vaccine development in China is at a similar stage as international efforts.

The fastest clinical testing of the novel coronavirus vaccine candidate will be conducted in late April, he said at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office.

国家卫健委副主任曾益新介绍说：目前，有部分项目已经进入到动物试验阶段，给大家打一个形象的比喻，如果把疫苗的研发比喻成建造一栋楼，现在我们的进度可以说地基已经打好了，楼体也已经冒出地面，我们正在以最快的速度一层一层往上建，然后再进入装修阶段。我们的目标是如果疫情需要，可以按照国家有关的法律来启动疫苗的应急使用，以及应急审评审批的程序。

Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the National Health Commission, also said that with the vaccine's well-laid foundation, the approval procedures can go through emergency channels.

美国创建首个新冠病毒3D原子图

有助加快开发疫苗、治疗性抗体和药物

(A 3D atomic scale map, or molecular structure, of the 2019-nCoV spike protein. /University of Texas at Austin)

根据中国研究人员提供的病毒基因组序列，美国科研团队迎来了新冠病毒研究的新进展。

近日，美国科研团队首次绘制出新型冠状病毒一个关键蛋白分子的3Ｄ结构，这种蛋白是开发疫苗、治疗性抗体和药物的关键靶点。

U.S. researchers mapped the first 3D atomic-scale structure of a key 2019 novel coronavirus protein, making a breakthrough toward developing vaccines, therapeutic antibodies and diagnostics, according to a study published online in the journal Science last Wednesday.

美国得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校和美国国家卫生研究院的研究人员根据中国研究人员提供的病毒基因组序列，利用冷冻电子显微镜重建了新冠病毒表面的刺突蛋白在原子尺度上的3Ｄ构造。

Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health used the cryogenic electron microscopy to map the spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19.

They designed and produced samples of the stabilized spike protein after the team received the genome sequence of the virus from Chinese researchers, and then reconstructed the 3D atomic-resolution map.

研究发现，新冠病毒的刺突蛋白结构与严重急性呼吸综合征（ＳＡＲＳ）冠状病毒的刺突蛋白结构非常相近，都将细胞表面的“血管紧张素转化酶2（ＡＣＥ2）”作为侵入细胞的关键受体。但新冠病毒的刺突蛋白与ＡＣＥ2的亲和力是ＳＡＲＳ病毒的10到20倍，这可能与新冠病毒更易于人际传播有关。

得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校分子生物科学系副教授贾森·麦克莱伦说，目前尚不清楚为何两者在分子层面上结合得更加紧密，且这种亲和力是否对病毒传播性造成影响还需进一步研究确认。

The study found the 2019 novel coronavirus shared the same functional host-cell receptor called ACE2 with SARS virus, but ACE2 binds to the novel coronavirus with affinity about 10 or 20-fold higher than its binding to SARS virus.

The findings may provide a potential explanation for the apparent easy human-to-human transmission demonstrated by the novel coronavirus, but Jason McLellan, associate professor at UT Austin who led the study, told Xinhua that it's still unclear whether this higher affinity binding has any impact on the transmissibility of the virus.

McLellan also said they still don't know why the novel coronavirus binds tighter at a molecular level.

麦克莱伦对新华社记者说，他们已将这一结构的原子坐标数据发送给全球多家实验室，其中多数来自中国，目前已有大约25家中国实验室要求获取相关资料。

He has sent the atomic coordinates of the spike protein to many laboratories, with the majority based in China. "About 25 labs from China have asked for them so far," he said.

麦克莱伦说，这一成果可帮助研究人员展开三个方面的工作。第一，展开潜在药物筛查，发现可与这种刺突蛋白结合并破坏其功能的小分子；第二，设计可以与刺突蛋白结合并抑制其功能的新型蛋白分子或抗体；第三，设计出这种刺突蛋白的变体，例如使其拥有更高表达水平或热稳定性，从而诱发更强的免疫反应，以加快疫苗开发。

Researchers can use the coordinates to begin virtual drug screening to identify small molecules that may bind to the spike and disrupt its function, or to design novel protein molecules or antibodies that bind to the spike and inhibit its function, as well as to perform protein engineering to try and make variants of the spike with improved properties, such as higher expression levels or thermal stability, which can be advantageous for vaccine development, McLellan said.