On Jul. 5, 2022, Tgen and Northern Arizona University announced that a research team found that the vaccine generates antibodies that target regions of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that are unique to the new virus, while also targeting regions of the protein that are shared or conserved among many coronaviruses.

What’s more, the antibody response to these different coronaviruses appears to follow different paths. Over the course of 140 days following vaccination, the response to common cold coronaviruses started early but diminished over time. The response to SARS-CoV-2 continued to get stronger and stronger over time. 

“The findings could help fine-tune the design of future vaccines or new monoclonal antibody treatments, perhaps leading to a universal coronavirus vaccine,” said John Altin, Ph.D., senior author and assistant professor in TGen’s Pathogen Genomics and Integrated Cancer Genomics Divisions. 

Using a technology called PepSeq developed by Altin and co-author Jason Ladner, Ph.D., an assistant professor at NAU’s Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, allowed the researchers to carefully map antibody responses and track them serially over 140 days in 21 people who received the Moderna SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The technology matches individual peptides (the building blocks of proteins) with unique DNA tags. The tags allow scientists to pinpoint which peptides are being targeted by antibodies. 

Before technologies like PepSeq, researchers had to measure the response of antibodies against one protein target at a time.