After the vaccine is injected into a person's arm, cells read the genes and begin to produce Zika virus proteins. Other sites participating in the Zika trial include the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland and Emory University in Atlanta. The goal is to jump start the body into creating an immune response that would then protect against an infection from an actual Zika virus. In June, Pennsylvania vaccine maker Inovio Pharmaceuticals and South Korea’s GeneOne Life Sciences announced plans to start testing a DNA vaccine, known as GLS-5700, on humans. The experimental vaccine that NIH researchers are testing includes a small, circular piece of DNA, known as a plasmid, which scientists engineered to contain genes that code for proteins of the Zika virus.

Source: Washington Post August 03, 2016 17:26 UTC