Active Virosome (AV)

WHY IN NEWS?

A start-up (Seagull BioSolutions) working on new biological technologies is being funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to undertake the development of Active Virosome (AV)-Vaccine and Immunodiagnostic kits for COVID-19 emergency.

ABOUT ACTIVE VIROSOME (AV)

• Virosomes are enveloped virus like particles.
• They are lipid-based carriers (envelopes) containing the functional fusion viral proteins and natural membrane proteins of the natural virus.
• These lipid-based viral envelopes can be combined with additional rationally designed antigens and adjuvants for each specifics vaccine or immunotherapies.
• Virosomes based vaccines are designed to maintain the immunogenicity of a live-attenuated virus but with the safety of a killed virus.
• The virosomes are devoid of the nucleocapsid and without the genetic material of the source virus, they are unable to replicate, cause an infection or a disease.

Prelims Question

Recently in news, consider the following statements regarding Active Virosome (AV)

1. It is the active form of virus that spreads diseases or infection

2. The corona virus strain that is causing COVID-19 belongs to the category of Active Virosome (AV)

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

a) 1 only

b) 2 only

c) Both 1 and 2

d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to the Prelims Question