Dr. Malachy Ifeanyi Okeke, a virologist and assistant professor of biology from the Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences, 黑料网, has recently co-authored an article in the prestigious journal Frontiers in Immunology (IF 7.3, Scopus CiteScore 9.4) in collaboration with Diana Diaz Canova from the UiT鈥擳he Arctic University of Norway and other researchers. Dr. Okeke is the senior and corresponding author of the paper, titled "Whole genome sequencing of recombinant viruses obtained from co-infection and superinfection of Vero Cells with modified vaccinia virus Ankara vectored influenza vaccine and a naturally occurring cowpox virus."
Dr. Okeke and his team discovered that recombination between poxvirus vectored vaccine and wild-type poxvirus resulted in viruses with mosaic genomes and that the recombination events that caused them were unpredictable and random. However, the site of transgene insertion was found to be site-specific. The paper also showed the rescue of host range genes in multiplication incompetent vaccine vectors and introgression of virus vaccine vector genes into naturally circulating poxvirus.听
This study's findings are crucial for the hazard characterization of poxvirus-vectored vaccines and will serve as a foundation for addressing the biosafety challenges associated with developing safe and effective virus-vectored vaccines.
The research was a collaborative effort among international researchers from various institutions, including UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, and Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, Germany.
The study can be accessed
Reported by Aishatu Munnauwarah Yahya