Collaboration in its finest

By Noralyn Onto Dudt

COLLABORATION is one of those terms with both positive and negative meanings.  Unfortunately, a younger me used to associate the word only with mischief as in "collaborating with the enemy" in time of war; or collaborating with someone to cheat the system; or to do harm to others.  And then about four decades ago when I was tasked to edit scientific reports for publication in journals, I came to recognize and appreciate its positive meaning:  The Action of Working with Someone to Produce or Create something.  When a research scientist writes a paper explaining the result of an experiment for publication in a scientific journal, he or she cites his references—those past experiments that he/she tried to replicate or ones that had similar theories but also went beyond or diverged into other direction for other goals. For example, a theory might be: "if patients with metabolic syndrome have dysregulation of cellular lipid metabolism, could it be because of high caloric intake and decreased capacity of exercise"? but another research scientist might want to take that theory further with, “Could this lead to insulin resistance and eventually, diabetes?"

When these ideas converge, two or more scientists in different parts of the globe (in research university hospitals) team up and collaborate on a project. Sometimes the project takes years and sometimes they may find something that was not even in the original goal or purpose. And this is exactly what happened with research and studies with mRNA (messenger RNA) which then became the technology that Pfizer and Moderna utilized to make the vaccine for the coronavirus.

The coronavirus vaccine is a new product but the principles and concepts that brought it to its current form have been painstakingly tested and developed in the purest realms of science by very dedicated researchers who devoted themselves to finding what was beyond and what was possible.  The story of the vaccine involves many actors: the research scientists and physicians whose dedication went beyond the call of duty. These were people who were relentless in their pursuit of what they believed would benefit humanity.  These were personalities who had their "eye on the goal." They persisted, they persevered, they were focused and would not give up even when funding was drying up.

For decades, research scientists have dreamed about the seemingly endless possibilities of custom-made mRNA. Synthetic mRNA is an ingenious variation of the natural substance that directs protein distribution in cells throughout the body.  The body relies on millions of tiny proteins to keep itself alive and healthy.  Messenger RNA (mRNA) tells our cells which proteins to make. Researchers have understood its role as a "recipe book" for the body's billions of cells, but their efforts to expand the "menu" were often stymied by "roadblocks" for many years. The pandemic removed those "roadblocks" overnight. The collaboration resumed and with soaring expectations and focus, scientists dug deep into past research and studies that have been performed at the National Institutes of Health, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin, Boston University, Stanford University, Harvard Medical School.  Decades of collaboration paid off and BioNTech of Mainz, Germany came up with the mRNA vaccine that Pfizer manufactured which is now being injected into people's arms.

Scientists are not stopping—collaborative efforts go on as new variants of the Corona virus are still popping up. Additionally, the teams of scientists who are involved in this pursuit recognize that making precise tweaks (modifications) to synthetic mRNA and injecting people with it, would transform cells in the body into an "on-demand drug factory. " Indeed, a very revolutionary concept in the field of medicine.

It was twenty years ago when the human genome project unveiled the first map of humankind's genetic instructions, an astonishing feat of technology that promised a future of medical treatments tailored to the quirks of a person's DNA. The DNA is a self-replicating material that is present in nearly all organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes (the center of genetic information). Your DNA tells a lot about you. It's your genetic code. It tells what predispositions your body has—whether you are predisposed to getting cancer, coronary (heart) ailments, kidney disease and other illnesses that beset our human bodies.

The human genome project was an international collaborative research program whose goal was the complete mapping and understanding of all genes of human beings. All our genes together are known as "genome."  Initiated under the leadership of American geneticist Dr. Francis Collins with support from the U.S. Department of Energy and National Institutes of Health, its primary goal was to discover the complete set of human genes and make them accessible for further biological study. The effort was soon joined by scientists from around the world. This massive collaboration recognized the potential benefits in the field of molecular Medicine. Benefits such as better diagnose of disease, early detection of certain diseases, gene therapy, and control system of drugs. In clinical medicine, the human genome gives important clues in understanding human diseases in terms of human biology and pathology.  As a result, medicine has been revolutionized in improving diagnosis, prognosis, treatments, and prevention.

According to the National Genome Research Institute, mRNA is a single-stranded RNA molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene.  The mRNA is an RNA version of the gene that leaves the cell nucleus and moves to the cytoplasm where proteins are made.

mRNA is the genetic material that contains instructions for making proteins. This technology which has been studied for other diseases including the flu, is a critical component of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. The vaccines use a synthesize scrap of genetic information wrapped in a protective fat layer to prevent disintegration.  When the vaccine goes into the muscle cells of the upper arm, the molecular instructions it contains tell your cells to create a protein that looks like the spike protein found on the surface of the coronavirus.  The immune system then registers the protein as a foreign body and begin building an immune response and making antibodies, the same way it would if you were infected with the coronavirus.

As previously stated, the pandemic required a huge effort to mount a collaboration by the scientific community. It required working around the clock and generously sharing scientific findings with one another.  A large number of medical personnel and other "frontliners" have risked their lives when they were exposed to patients who contracted the virus. Many of them have died. The vaccines are now available and it is now our turn to do our part. It is our civic responsibility. We must not lose the sense that we have a common enterprise—that we are all part of a global community. We owe much of our health and happiness to one another. When we perform our duties and obligations, we feel a sense of pride and a shared purpose. Being vaccinated brings a thrill of freedom—a liberation from the fear that the virus brought.  Again, we can move through the world with less fear from being infected or infecting others.  But the ultimate goal -- the return to normal life -- can be achieved only when we act together.  Just as the teams of scientists co-labored to bring us the vaccine, it is now our turn to "collaborate" and bring this pandemic to an end.

 

Noralyn Onto Dudt is a long-time resident of the Washington DC area who can't wait for the pandemic to end so she can travel and visit her roots in her home province of Ilocos Norte again. She misses the Batac empanadas, longganiza, miki, paradosdos, pinakbet, bibingka and other Ilokano delicacies she relished in her youth.