The University of Hawaii has announced that Axel Lehrer, an assistant professor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), working with a UH team and the pharmaceutical company Soligenix, Inc., has developed a vaccine candidate that is showing promise in rapidly stimulating an antibody response to the coronavirus which causes COVID-19.

Vivek Nerurkar, PhD, UH JABSOM Chair of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology & Pharmacology, says Dr. Lehrer’s lab has already developed vaccines for Ebola and Zika, both viruses.

The lead author of this study is Brien Haun, a phD graduate student and recipient of the 2020 Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Awards.  The study has submitted for peer review to the journal npj Vaccines, and may be found by clicking here.

Photos below are Brien Haun and a photo of the study team;  photo attached is Dr. Alex Lehrer.