Non-coding flavivirus RNA as key target to engineer live-attenuated vaccines that are ‘safe-by-design’

Vaccines are essential to control infectious diseases in humans. An efficient, safe and cheap vaccine type is the live-attenuated vaccine. A live-attenuated vaccine consists of a viable, harmless version of the virus. A group of viruses for which vaccines are required are the flaviviruses. These viruses pose a threat to public health because they are spreading around the world and causing disease. In this project we will therefore generate live-attenuated vaccines for West Nile virus and Tick-borne encephalitis virus. This will be done by eliminating production of a small RNA molecule that is essential for the virus to cause disease.