Day Two Highlights from the COVID 19 Symposium

The ASGCT COVID-19 Symposium moved into its second day Wednesday with the final group of invited speakers focusing on COVID-19 vaccine candidates in the morning and abstract presenters discussing their new research in the afternoon.

During the morning session, SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines, attendees heard from researchers who helped develop two of the leading vaccines for COVID-19 that are now in clinical trials. In her discussion of adenovirus vaccine candidates, Sarah Gilbert, Ph.D. (University of Oxford/Vaccitech) talked about the development with AstraZeneca of what is now known as AZD1222. Gilbert said the vaccine candidate, which is now in phase 3 trials in the U.S., induces strong B and T-cell responses after a single vaccination. Also in phase 3 trials in the U.S. is mRNA-1273, said Kizzmekia Corbett, Ph.D. (Vaccine Research Center of the NIAID). Developed by Moderna, Corbett said the candidate elicits robust immune responses in humans. Other speakers during the session discussed models of SARS-CoV-2 in mice and primates and vaccine readouts.

The rest of the second day was devoted to abstract presentations. Attendees heard from a variety of researchers at universities and therapeutics companies across the U.S. as well as in Canada and the U.K. These researchers presented brand new findings related to potential COVID-19 vaccine candidates and delivery methods and SARS-CoV-2 detection and tracking strategies.

All presentations from ASGCT’s COVID-19 Symposium are free to view for the next 30 days by registering online. You can also view the abstracts and the posters, and read about highlights from the first day of the Symposium.

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