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When the SARS-CoV-2 began circulating around the globe last year, researchers familiar with the concept of challenge trials considered the idea of deliberately infecting humans with the virus in a controlled manner to learn more about this novel pathogen. Now, two such trials are underway in the UK, one aimed at determining the best dose for causing infection but not making volunteers too sick, and another at understanding their immune response to the virus.
The Scientist spoke with Helen McShane, a vaccine researcher at the University of Oxford who is heading up one of the trials, about the logistics, hurdles, and value of this research.
Helen McShane: I’ve spent twenty years working on tuberculosis and TB vaccine development. And for the last five years, I’ve been working on developing a controlled human infection model for TB. I work at Oxford, where we have a very well-established ...
