Global health R&D at work in Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin at Madison scientists are leading a research consortium focused on developing a pan-coronavirus vaccine that could protect against multiple known and yet-unknown coronaviruses. The consortium was one of three teams chosen by the US National Institutes of Health to simultaneously work on this goal. Coronaviruses are the viral family responsible for not only the COVID-19 pandemic but also the epidemics of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). A pan-coronavirus vaccine is an important tool that would offer some level of protection to populations if a new coronavirus epidemic or pandemic occurs, buying scientists time to develop a pathogen-specific vaccine.