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Moderna mRNA sequence released to GitHub [pdf]

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Re: Moderna mRNA sequence released to GitHub [pdf]

#131

Post by gerdesj »

drtz wrote: post #31

I'm sure it's more complex than I grasp as a layperson, but I'm utterly amazed at how simple this _appears_. I get the feeling that this is something I have a better chance of understanding than the average SaaS Terms and Conditions. I expected to have to scroll through pages upon pages of indecipherable text. Instead it's no bigger than a large paragraph of text, and I can easily fit it on my screen.

"but I'm utterly amazed at how simple this _appears_."

Biology is a funny old thing. You can look at that concise description - the orange and so on blocks of a few letters and a few short groupings.

Now ATCG are basic building blocks but they consist of quite a lot of stuff. I think it's a bit more complex than that because this is RNA not DNA so ATCG might not be quite right. Each of those bases are horrifically complicated depending on scale. Search "ATCG" - this is a good start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleobase

Now dive into one of those bases and decompose it to its constituent atoms. Now look at the maths around this stuff. It gets quite complicated, quite quickly.

That said, the fact that a bloody complicated thingie can be described so concisely is absolutely amazing and as you say it looks so simple.

Re: Moderna mRNA sequence released to GitHub [pdf]

#133

Post by rantwasp »

plattyp wrote: post #87

Who would have thought it'd be this simple if covid?(dna) block_virus(dna) end

read the article linked in the thread. it actually does not work against all of the covid virus. it works against the spikes.

so, the virus is sort of like a ball with these spikes on top (that’s where the corona name comes from) and the vaccine helps your body develop antibodies against the spikes. so when the virus gets in your body, it actually receives a “haircut” which leads to it no longer being able to enter the cells and hijack their internals to produce more viruses.

it’s extremely clever, but it also means that your code is wrong ;))

Re: Moderna mRNA sequence released to GitHub [pdf]

#134

Post by o-__-o »

dylan604 wrote: post #126
azernik wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The protein they're trying to manufacture is indeed quite simple - AFAIU both BioNTech and Moderna put together their sequences in a weekend. (Though there was a more involved process of winnowing down the sequences for the most effective ones.) The technically challenging parts are: - delivery mechanism: you need to take a very unstable molecule, protect it from the environment - both external, and when inside the p…

> put together their sequences in a weekend meh, I could do that over a weekend never sounded so scary, or impressive at the same time. That weekend just so happened to stand on the shoulders of prior decades of research though. i guess this is big pharma's version of `apt-get install`

Modern a has been working on mRNA since 2010 and mRNA vaccines since 2012. They have the process down pretty solid, but vaccines do not bring in the bacon.

Re: Moderna mRNA sequence released to GitHub [pdf]

#135

Post by flobosg »

type_enthusiast wrote: post #120
batterseapower wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This very cool article explains the mRNA sequence chunk-by-chunk which might give you a flavour of why differences exist: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source...

That is a super interesting article, thank you for posting it! But, I guess my question is more about why the abstraction of "protein chunks" doesn't fall apart when there are relatively significant "diffs" in the RNA sequence.

The most significant diffs between both vaccines occur in the untranslated regions located around the protein coding sequence and will never be present in the actual spike protein.

Regarding the protein coding region, because of the degeneracy/redundancy of the genetic code, all changes within it are synonymous and code for identical amino acids.

Re: Moderna mRNA sequence released to GitHub [pdf]

#137

Post by azernik »

o-__-o wrote: post #134
dylan604 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> put together their sequences in a weekend meh, I could do that over a weekend never sounded so scary, or impressive at the same time. That weekend just so happened to stand on the shoulders of prior decades of research though. i guess this is big pharma's version of `apt-get install`

Modern a has been working on mRNA since 2010 and mRNA vaccines since 2012. They have the process down pretty solid, but vaccines do not bring in the bacon.

Now that they've spent a year developing the mass-production methods and infrastructure, it might bring in the bacon! e.g. there's a steady annual market for a flu vaccine for whatever the latest strain is, and being able to get that to market faster than the competition could give them an edge.

I just don't think it was every profitable enough for them to put in this enormous capital expenditure.

Re: Moderna mRNA sequence released to GitHub [pdf]

#138

Post by hutzlibu »

o-__-o wrote: post #134
dylan604 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> put together their sequences in a weekend meh, I could do that over a weekend never sounded so scary, or impressive at the same time. That weekend just so happened to stand on the shoulders of prior decades of research though. i guess this is big pharma's version of `apt-get install`

Modern a has been working on mRNA since 2010 and mRNA vaccines since 2012. They have the process down pretty solid, but vaccines do not bring in the bacon.

" but vaccines do not bring in the bacon."

As in, "do not generate enough income"? Really? Now?

Re: Moderna mRNA sequence released to GitHub [pdf]

#139

Post by Exmoor »

_joel wrote: post #124
wespiser_2018 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

from what I've gathered, the rate limiting step for production as of yet, is creating the lipid vesicles and getting the RNA inside of them. Only a few companies have a process for this, and the supply chain for the precursors is limited as well.

Could be wrong but AFAIU the Pfizer one doesn't encapsulate in a lipid, hence why it needs lower temperatures.

They're both encased in lipids. Pfizer didn't have long term data on long-term storage at standard freezer temperatures, but has since confirmed their vaccine can be stored at similar conditions to Moderna.

Re: Moderna mRNA sequence released to GitHub [pdf]

#140

Post by azernik »

outworlder wrote: post #109
azernik wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The protein they're trying to manufacture is indeed quite simple - AFAIU both BioNTech and Moderna put together their sequences in a weekend. (Though there was a more involved process of winnowing down the sequences for the most effective ones.) The technically challenging parts are: - delivery mechanism: you need to take a very unstable molecule, protect it from the environment - both external, and when inside the p…

> delivery mechanism: you need to take a very unstable molecule, protect it from the environment - both external, and when inside the patient - and insert it into a human cell. (This is called the "platform", and is usually developed independently from the specific payload.) Of note, the immune system is pretty good at destroying foreign mRNA so you also need to evade it. This article is pretty good: https://berthub.…

Though AFAIU once you've gotten the RNA inside the cell, you're home free.
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