- The Instituto de Salud Carlos III has just granted financing to the proposal led by José Martínez Costas, Principal Investigator at CiQUS (USC), whose group has developed a powerful methodology in the field of vaccines over the past few years
José Martínez Costas, researcher at the Centre for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials at USC (CiQUS), will work on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine based on a new methodology fully developed at the Centre and patented by the USC (University of Santiago de Compostela), which offers low-cost results within limited timeframes.
This new work stream has just received funding from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and, as Professor Martínez Costas explains, the methodology on which the work will be based is already patented by the research group itself at CiQUS and allows the production of vaccines against any pathogen. “We make cells of any origin produce microspheres and insert viral antigens within them”, clarifies Martínez Costas. These particles “are purified very easily and have an inherent capacity to stimulate the immune system, making them ideal as vaccines for coronavirus, which mainly affects older people whose immune system is usually weakened”, adds this researcher.
The team at CiQUS will work on the generation of the vaccine, whereas animal testing will be carried out by another team at the Animal Health Research Centre (CISA) in Valdeolmos (INIA, Madrid). If it is proven that the strategy gives positive results, the team will seek additional funding for starting clinical trials.
CiQUS is accredited as a Research Centre from Galician University System (SUG, in its Spanish acronym) and is financed by aids for accreditation, structuring and improvement of research centres from the SUG, which is 80% cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund through the FEDER Galicia 2014-2020 Operational Programme, with the remaining 20% funding coming from Xunta de Galicia (Galician Government).
