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Pedestrians wear face masks as they walk through a crosswalk in Causeway Bay district on Jan. 23, 2020 in Hong Kong, China. (Anthony Kwan\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n
University of\u00a0Queensland<\/a>\u00a0researchers are working round the clock as they race to develop a vaccine to stop people dying from the\u00a0coronavirus<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Queensland team is one of three around the world asked to plant their foot on the accelerator and use new technologies to get a vaccine onto the market fast.<\/p>\n If the Queensland team can replicate what they\u2019ve done in labs with other viruses, including related influenza and ebola, it\u2019s possible the world could have a shield against\u00a0coronavirus within six months.<\/p>\n So far the virus has killed 25 people in China and infected at least 830 others. It\u2019s also spread to numerous other countries and some ill people in\u00a0Australia<\/a>\u00a0are being tested for it.<\/p>\n Amid fears of a pandemic, the\u00a0Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations hand-picked three research teams with the most promising technology to fast-track a vaccine.<\/p>\n The University of Queensland team is confident they\u2019ll get there with recently patented DNA-based molecular clamp technology.<\/p>\n It involves using the DNA sequence of the coronavirus \u2013 released by China after the outbreak \u2013 to\u00a0produce a protein that\u2019s the same as the one on the surface of the actual virus.<\/p>\n That protein will be the essence of the vaccine, capable of generating immune system responses that protect people.<\/p>\n \u201cBy injecting that we can get an optimal immune response in people that affords protection,\u201d explains Dr. Keith Chappell, from the university\u2019s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences.<\/p>\n Chappell and colleagues\u00a0Professor Paul Young and Dr Dan Watterson are responsible for the molecular clamp technology and their team of 20 has been working through the night since they got the call for help.<\/p>\n Gruelling months of work lie ahead, but he\u2019s hopeful the six month time frame is realistic.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is our goal. It\u2019s an incredibly difficult time frame, but we\u2019ll do do our best.\u201d<\/p>\n