You’ll never believe what happened! It’s Amazing! Astounding! Unbelievable! Implausible! We, the Hong Kong SARS Research Team, had succeeded in our quest to find the world’s first Vaccine ever for SARS! I am ecstatically exhilarated! The joy that I felt could never be expressed! I would like to share with you the story of how my team and I succeeded in the discovery this never before vaccine which is going to save many lives.
It all started in 2003, where there was an outbreak of SARS in Asia, which got out of control. Nobody knew what form the virus was and the mutation level and countries that were affected were in super high alert. Schools, social gatherings and travels had to be disrupted to contain the spread of the virus. Cases of SARS outbreak were also reported in Canada, Europe and USA.
When the SARS outbreak first happened, I thought that it was just another contagious disease which could be easily controlled. How very wrong! At that time, I was working on another contagious disease, the Tuberculosis, a deadly disease that attacks the lungs and other systems in our body.
As the SARS saga uncovered, it proved to be deadly, with fatalities all over Asia. The virus was a new strain, which meant that it has never before been studied or researched on. There was an urgent need to form a research team to study SARS. I took up the challenge of researching on an entirely new virus, left the Tuberculosis team and joined the SARS Research Team.
Initially, my family was concerned about the change since there was so much negative publicity about the SARS virus. Doctors and medical teams who treated patients fell ill themselves and succumbed to the disease. However, I assured them that I’ll take precautions and even if I were to die, I would die a happy man knowing that someday, my contributions would save lives. My research team and I worked round the clock effortlessly, sometimes not sleeping for days in a stretch. The Research lab became my second home and I worked with my blood, toil and sweat, hoping to find a cure within the shortest time frame. We met with many rejections and obstacles but we remained resilient. We brainstormed constantly and it was really an uphill task for us. There was no reference or other research team that we could share notes with. We were entirely on our own.
Finally, at 2 am one fine morning while working tirelessly, I managed to decode the genetic sequence of the SARS corona virus. This amazing discovery opened many avenues of research to help develop diagnostic tests, therapies and vaccines. We develop a vaccine based on the gene for the SARS spike protein. The vaccine performed very well in mice, reducing the levels of virus in the lungs of infected mice by more than a million-fold. Clinical trials proved successful. In addition to our 110% commitment, we owe the speed of this research to modern molecular genetics. The technology enables us rapidly to translate scientific discoveries into clinical interventions and improves our ability to battle these ever-evolving, highly lethal microbes.
Our team was in cloud nine. Our perseverance, patience, determination and sheer hard work paid off.
All of us are going home early for the first time to catch up on our long lost sleep.
It all started in 2003, where there was an outbreak of SARS in Asia, which got out of control. Nobody knew what form the virus was and the mutation level and countries that were affected were in super high alert. Schools, social gatherings and travels had to be disrupted to contain the spread of the virus. Cases of SARS outbreak were also reported in Canada, Europe and USA.
When the SARS outbreak first happened, I thought that it was just another contagious disease which could be easily controlled. How very wrong! At that time, I was working on another contagious disease, the Tuberculosis, a deadly disease that attacks the lungs and other systems in our body.
As the SARS saga uncovered, it proved to be deadly, with fatalities all over Asia. The virus was a new strain, which meant that it has never before been studied or researched on. There was an urgent need to form a research team to study SARS. I took up the challenge of researching on an entirely new virus, left the Tuberculosis team and joined the SARS Research Team.
Initially, my family was concerned about the change since there was so much negative publicity about the SARS virus. Doctors and medical teams who treated patients fell ill themselves and succumbed to the disease. However, I assured them that I’ll take precautions and even if I were to die, I would die a happy man knowing that someday, my contributions would save lives. My research team and I worked round the clock effortlessly, sometimes not sleeping for days in a stretch. The Research lab became my second home and I worked with my blood, toil and sweat, hoping to find a cure within the shortest time frame. We met with many rejections and obstacles but we remained resilient. We brainstormed constantly and it was really an uphill task for us. There was no reference or other research team that we could share notes with. We were entirely on our own.
Finally, at 2 am one fine morning while working tirelessly, I managed to decode the genetic sequence of the SARS corona virus. This amazing discovery opened many avenues of research to help develop diagnostic tests, therapies and vaccines. We develop a vaccine based on the gene for the SARS spike protein. The vaccine performed very well in mice, reducing the levels of virus in the lungs of infected mice by more than a million-fold. Clinical trials proved successful. In addition to our 110% commitment, we owe the speed of this research to modern molecular genetics. The technology enables us rapidly to translate scientific discoveries into clinical interventions and improves our ability to battle these ever-evolving, highly lethal microbes.
Our team was in cloud nine. Our perseverance, patience, determination and sheer hard work paid off.
All of us are going home early for the first time to catch up on our long lost sleep.
