The innovation could enable protection at lower doses, meaning vaccines could be rolled out further and faster than was previously imaginable, and opens new possibilities in gene therapy, cancer immunotherapy, and protein replacement therapies.

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London have found a way to overcome cell’s natural defenses against self-amplifying mRNA vaccines, thereby allowing them to produce significantly more of their target protein. The findings are published in Nature Communications.

MRNA-based vaccines were central to getting us out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unlike conventional vaccines, which use a low dose of the virus to build immunity, RNA vaccines tell your cells to produce a protein which teaches your body how to fight the virus.