Australian research and development facilities are lending their experience and resources to the global effort to develop diagnostic tests and vaccines for Coronavirus (COVID-19).
A partner of the Indo Pacific Centre for Health Security (CHS), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), is funding eight COVID-19 vaccine candidates for clinical trials. One of the eight vaccine candidates is being developed in Australia by the University of Queensland (UQ).
The rapid development shows the feasibility of UQ’s ‘molecular clamp’ technology to engineer a vaccine candidate. The Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) is already an accredited World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Collaborating Centre for New and Emerging Diseases.
AAHL is the only high-containment animal health laboratory in our region and works with Indo-Pacific countries to reduce disease risks and support their efforts to control and manage infectious diseases. Improved diagnostics are an important part of pandemic response in the Pacific because we need easy-to-use tests that perform well in hot and humid environments.
The Centre has partnered with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) through the Product Development Partnership Fund ($75 million from 2018-2022).
FIND is using its proven experience and established networks to rapidly develop and deploy new diagnostic tests for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Image: CSIRO - Australian Animal Health Laboratory
