Vaccinia Virus Strain MVA Expressing a Prefusion-Stabilized SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein Induces Robust Protection and Prevents Brain Infection in Mouse and Hamster Models.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of swift responses and the necessity of dependable technologies for vaccine development. Our team previously developed a fast cloning system for the modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) vaccine platform. In this study, we reported on the construction and preclinical testing of a recombinant MVA vaccine obtained using this system.

Identification of β2 microglobulin, the product of B2M gene, as a Host Factor for Vaccinia Virus Infection by Genome-Wide CRISPR genetic screens.

Genome-wide genetic screens are powerful tools to identify genes that act as host factors of viruses. We have applied this technique to analyze the infection of HeLa cells by Vaccinia virus, in an attempt to find genes necessary for infection. Infection of cell populations harboring single gene inactivations resulted in no surviving cells, suggesting that no single gene knock-out was able to provide complete resistance to Vaccinia virus and thus allow cells to survive infection.

Tools for the targeted genetic modification of poxvirus genomes.

The potential of viruses as biotechnology platforms is becoming more appealing due to technological advances in synthetic biology techniques and to the increasing accessibility of means to manipulate virus genomes. Among viral systems, poxviruses, and their prototype member Vaccinia Virus, are one of the outstanding choices for different biotechnological and medical applications based on heterologous gene expression, recombinant vaccines or oncolytic viruses. The refinement of genetic engineering methods on Vaccinia Virus over the last decades have contributed to facilitate the manipulation of the genomes of poxviruses, and may aid in the improvement of virus variants designed for different goals through reverse genetic approaches.