如何研发新冠病毒疫苗？这家公司有新法儿！
words：356 time：5ˊ
The daily reports about the novel coronavirus are driving a lot of fear of infection and our hearts go out to those who are suffering terribly. But there is also news of a potential revolution underway in the field of vaccine development.
A vaccine is typically a mixture of chemicals that can trigger the body’s immune system to defend against a disease. For diseases caused by viruses, the mixture has a component called an antigen (抗原). This is usually a weakened form of the virus, but it could also be a protein found on the surface of the virus. In either case, it can no longer cause the disease.
The antigen fools the body into thinking it has encountered a disease-causing virus, and it triggers the body’s immune systemto produce antibodies to destroy the threat.These antibodies are what provide long-term protection against future infection. This is also the theory behind using plasma (血浆) from recovered coronavirus patients to treat those who are seriously ill in China right now.
Currently, Moderna Therapeutics Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is trying to use messenger RNA (mRNA) as a new class of drugs. mRNA is a family of molecules(分子) that living cells use to translate DNA into proteins. Cells use it to carry the information contained in a DNA sequence (序列) to the ribosome (核糖体) where the “data” is turned into proteins. Thus mRNA is a very important thing for our cells to produce any and every protein our bodies need to sustain life.
It was reported that Moderna had designed and made its first experimental coronavirus vaccine in just over three weeks, and that it was planning to send it to the USA’s National Institutes of Health for use in initial clinical testing.
They focused on a special protein that was sticking out from the surface of the coronavirus, and then used its gene sequence to produce mRNA that would trigger the body to make this protein. Used as an antigen, the protein would trigger the body’s immune system to do its work.
If Moderna is successful, this will be revolutionary.
Vocabulary 词汇：
trigger v. 引发；触发
eg. Strangely familiar smells triggered his memories of childhood.
sustain v. 维持；长期保持
eg. The soil in this part of the world is not rich enough to sustain a large population.
拓展：sustainable adj. 可持续的
摘自《环球阅读》高三版2019-2020下学期 第22期
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