An accidental discovery turned into an unexpected success when a team of interdisciplinary BU researchers created a new and improved COVID vaccine
It all started in the lab. Two Boston University doctoral students, Joshua McGee (ENG’26) and Jack Kirsch (ENG’23), were creating and testing different types of RNA—strands of ribonucleic acid, built from chains of chemical compounds called nucleotides, that help carry out genetic instructions in cells. They were determined to see if RNA sequences crafted with small changes to their nucleotides can still work. After running dozens of experiments, they hit a dead end.
“At first, it was a failure,” McGee says.
But with the chemical components left over from those initial experiments, the students—alongside Distinguished Professor Mark Grinstaff (BME, MSE) and Associate Professor Wilson Wong (BME)—hit upon a new technology that might lead to longer-lasting and safer vaccines.