That timeframe compares with the months usually required for testing based on human responses. "You can know from the way the genes change - what genes are turned on, what are turned off," said Ooi Eng Eong, deputy director of the school's emerging infectious diseases programme. Ooi said he planned to start testing vaccines in mice in about a week, with human trials expected in the second half of the year. In a key step towards developing diagnostic methods, the Duke-NUS scientists helped culture the virus in late January, days after Singapore confirmed its first infection. "Everyone is racing ahead, but we are kind of writing the playbook as the game is being played," he added.

Source: bd News24 March 24, 2020 07:07 UTC