The University of Queensland (UQ), in Australia, has been selected as one of the first launch institutions in the world to partner with biotechnology company Moderna to research and develop vaccines to tackle the world’s greatest global public health threats.

The partnership, brokered by two of the University’s leading researchers Professor Mark Walker and Professor Paul Young, will allow UQ scientists access to Moderna’s mRNA platform to develop mRNA vaccines for neglected and emerging viruses.

Professor Young said there were at least 10 disease research projects underway at UQ that could benefit immediately from the mRNA Access partnership.

“Moderna will set up a portal where researchers in this collaborative agreement will have access to their mRNA technology to target these identified pathogens”.

“The partnership will focus on diseases that have the potential to emerge as a future pandemic and diseases that are already a problem in low- and middle-income countries, like dengue, malaria, tuberculosis and zika virus", he said.