Virus Creation Details

Name: Kelvin Martinez

Background Information:
A vaccine against meningococcal disease or any other disease works by generating an
immune response in the body against some kind of pathogen—a virus, bacterium, or
some other agent that causes the disease. Normally when a pathogen invades the body,
the immune system works to get rid of the pathogen. Often, though, the immune system
gets a slow start, which gives the pathogen time to multiply and cause trouble. What a
vaccine does is expose the immune system to a less-threatening version of a pathogen
and, in effect, prime it to recognize and quickly eliminate the innocuous pathogen's
harmful counterpart, should it ever invade the body.

To simulate this process, you will first visit a PBS NOVA virtual lab that walks through
the production of the previously common 6 vaccine types. Then, you will go to the CDC
page and read the background information on how the “new” mRNA vaccines work.
After each step in the simulation, answer the questions in this handout.

Part 1: PBS Nova- Making Vaccines

Go to https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/meningitis/vacc_nf.html and read the background
information given. We will go through each of the vaccine types outlined here
individually.

Similar Pathogen Vaccine: Smallpox virus

1. To create this vaccine, you will use a virus that is NOT smallpox, but causes a
similar disease. What virus will be used?
a. Cowpox.
2. Why must you run the solution collected from the cow through a purifier?
a. To isolate the virus from other impurities and fluid.
3. In the “done” section, use context clues related to “At one time”, and
“Advancements in biotechnology” phrases given. If Smallpox vaccines are made
today, are they likely to follow this same technology?
a. No, because of our advancements in biotechnology.

Attenuated vaccine: Measles virus

4. What does it mean to create an “attenuated vaccine”?
a. It means you need to alter a pathogen
5. What are some potential consequences to creating a vaccine in this way?
a. It will stimulate an immune response
6. What other diseases use (or used) this form of vaccine creation?
a. mumps, rubella, polio, and yellow fever.

Killed vaccine: Polio virus

7. What is the goal in creating a “killed vaccine”?
Virus Creation Details

a. To disable a pathogen’s replicating ability

8. What is needed to generate many copies of the polio virus?
a. A tissue culture
9. Why must the virus be separated from the culture medium?
a. To be able to differentiate from the copies and the real virus.
10. What methods can be used to “inactivate” a virus?
a. Exposing the pathogen to heat, and radiation.
11. Will a killed vaccine be able to produce full immune response in one shot?
a. No
12. What is often required for patients who receive this type of vaccine?
a. Booster shots
13. What other diseases use this type of vaccination creation process?
a. influenza, typhoid, and rabies.

Toxoid vaccine: Tetanus

14. What is the goal of a Toxoid style vaccine?
a. to condition the immune system to combat not an invading virus or bacteria
but rather a toxin produced by that invading virus or bacteria.
15. Is the toxin something that is safe for humans before it is neutralized?
a. No
16. What is the purpose of an “adjuvant”?
a. To increase the response
17. In the case of the Tetanus vaccine, what other vaccine is added to it?
a. A vaccine for diphtheria
18. Does this type of vaccine create full immunity in one shot?
a. No, booster shots are needed to maintain the immunity.

Subunit vaccine: Hepatitis B

19. How does a subunit vaccine work?
A subunit vaccine makes use of just a small portion of a pathogen.

a.
20. What type of host cell is used to read the viral DNA?
a. A yeast cell
21. Does this type of vaccine have the ability to cause the disease being inoculated
for?
a. Yes
22. What is another vaccine made with this process?
a. The anthrax vaccine

Naked DNA vaccine: HIV

23. What is the goal of this type of vaccine?
Virus Creation Details

a. The goal of these vaccines is to use a gene from a pathogen to generate an

immune response.
24. What process is used to create many copies of the specific gene described?
a. Polymerase chain reaction
25. What are vectors?
a. agents that are able to enter and instruct cells to create proteins based on the
vector's DNA code.
26. Once the vector has incorporated into the bacterial host, what happens next?
a. in addition to mounting an attack against the free-floating proteins, the
immune system attacks and eliminates cells that have been colonized by a
pathogen. The vaccine, then, works like a live vaccine, but without the risk.
27. Does the final vaccine contain the bacterial host cells?
a. It should only contain the vectors
28. What is the status of this vaccine for human use?
a. Trials are underway
29. What other diseases are being explored for creation of vaccines using this process?
a. herpes, influenza, malaria, and hepatitis B

mRNA vaccines- CDC information

Please visit the website https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-
vaccines/mrna.html and read the information about the mRNA vaccines being developed
for Covid-19.

30. How to mRNA vaccines work?

a. mRNA vaccines give instructions for our cells to make a harmless piece of
what is called the “spike protein.”
31. What does the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine do?
a. Once the instructions (mRNA) are inside the immune cells, the cells use
them to make the protein piece. After the protein piece is made, the cell
breaks down the instructions and gets rid of them.
32. Can the mRNA vaccines being given for Covid-19 transmit the disease?
a. No
33. Are mRNA vaccines new?
a. Yes they are new
34. What are some other diseases (besides Covid-19) that have been explored for
creation of an mRNA vaccine?
a. flu, Zika, rabies, and cytomegalovirus

Feel free to explore the related links portion of this page for relevant information on how
vaccines are developed to FDA speculations/regulations, and how they become approved
for use.