Explainer of JEV study. Video from QIMR Berghofer.
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00:00 Over the last two years we've been researching the new rare subtype of Japanese encephalitis
00:07 virus that has caused the unprecedented outbreak in Australia.
00:12 So it was around the summer of 2022 which was a very, very wet summer and that created
00:17 the perfect conditions for this virus to spread because we know it's spread by mosquitoes
00:22 and wading birds.
00:23 So there was lots of flooding which created the perfect condition for this new subtype
00:27 of the virus.
00:32 We studied it in our state-of-the-art biosecurity lab at QIMR and we learnt that the impact
00:39 on the brain that this virus could cause was consistent with the seven human deaths during
00:44 this outbreak.
00:46 So through collaborations with other groups at QIMR we acquired 3D human brain organoids
00:52 which can be called mini brains which comprises human neurons and other cell types in the
00:57 brain and we infected these.
01:00 The virus could replicate in these organoids and it destroyed the organoids.
01:09 So our research also collected blood samples from human participants who received the approved
01:16 Japanese encephalitis virus vaccine and we tested their blood to see if the antibodies
01:21 could bind to the new subtype of the virus and what we found is that it could bind to
01:26 the new subtype of the virus so this vaccine is likely to be protective.
01:32 However what our research showed was that a new vaccine targeted towards the new virus
01:38 would likely provide more optimal vaccine responses.
01:42 So this is a 3D printed structure of Japanese encephalitis virus and you can see the very
01:49 tightly controlled structural organisation of the structural proteins of the virus on
01:55 the surface of the virus particle and this is what the antibodies that the vaccine produces
02:00 binds to to kill the virus.
02:03 So any changes in the structure of these viral proteins on the surface of the virus can affect
02:10 how the antibodies that the vaccine produces can bind to the virus.
02:15 So that's why targeting a particular genotype would provide more optimal vaccine responses.
02:23 We've now got the tools through this research to develop and test new vaccines and our lab
02:29 through collaborations with Southern RNA, University of Queensland and Griffith University
02:36 are developing new mRNA vaccines against JUV which can be locally manufactured targeted
02:42 towards the Australian strain of the virus to protect the Australian population.
02:46 [Music]
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