Jason McLellan
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jason S. McLellan is a structural biologist, professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences and Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry at
The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
who specializes in understanding the structure and function of viral proteins, including those of coronaviruses. His research focuses on applying structural information to the rational design of vaccines and other therapies for viruses, including
SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...
, the novel coronavirus that causes
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). McLellan and his team collaborated with researchers at the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...
Vaccine Research Center The Vaccine Research Center (VRC), is an intramural division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The mission of ...
to design a stabilized version of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which biotechnology company
Moderna Moderna, Inc. ( ) is an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that focuses on RNA therapeutics, primarily mRNA vaccines. These vaccines use a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to carry inst ...
used as the basis for the vaccine
mRNA-1273 The Moderna COVID19 vaccine, sold under the brand name Spikevax, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the American company Moderna, the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Biomedical Advance ...
, the first COVID-19 vaccine candidate to enter phase I clinical trials in the U.S. At least three other vaccines use this modified spike protein: those from Pfizer and BioNTech; Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceuticals; and
Novavax Novavax, Inc. is an American biotechnology company based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, that develops vaccines to counter serious infectious diseases. Prior to 2020, company scientists developed experimental vaccines for influenza and respiratory sy ...
. According to a June 2022 study published in the Lancet, COVID‑19 vaccines prevented between 14.4 and 19.8 million deaths globally in the first year they were available outside clinical trials.


SARS-CoV-2 research

McLellan led a team from
The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
and the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...
Vaccine Research Center The Vaccine Research Center (VRC), is an intramural division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The mission of ...
that produced the first molecular structure, or 3D atomic scale map, of the novel coronavirus’ spike protein, the protein that allows the virus to attach to and infect host cells. The results were published online on February 19, 2020, in ''
Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'', one of the world's top academic journals, and were highlighted on the cover of the 13 March 2020 print edition. The molecular structure provides a blueprint for scientists to learn to disrupt these processes through developing new treatments or vaccines. Aubree Gordon, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan who was not a part of the study was quoted by
LiveScience Live Science is a science news website. The publication features stories on a wide range of topics, including space, animals, health, archaeology, human behavior, and planet Earth. It also includes a reference section with links to other websites. ...
as saying: "It's a very important step forward and may help in the development of a vaccine against SARS-COV-2." The achievement was also highlighted as an important step towards a vaccine by the director of the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
,
Francis Collins Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is an American physician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He served as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ...
, in the NIH Director's Blog. McLellan and his team collaborated with researchers at the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...
Vaccine Research Center The Vaccine Research Center (VRC), is an intramural division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The mission of ...
to design a stabilized version of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, called S-2P or 2P, which biotechnology company
Moderna Moderna, Inc. ( ) is an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that focuses on RNA therapeutics, primarily mRNA vaccines. These vaccines use a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to carry inst ...
used as the basis for the vaccine candidate mRNA-1273, the first COVID-19 vaccine candidate to enter phase I clinical trials in the U.S. The UT Austin and NIH teams filed a joint patent application on the mutated spike protein. Moderna's vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, contains the genetic code for the stabilized version of the spike protein. When a person is vaccinated with mRNA-1273, their own cells should theoretically produce these modified spike proteins, triggering their immune systems to develop antibodies against the actual coronavirus. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein takes on one shape before entering a cell and another shape after, known as the prefusion and postfusion conformations. Antibodies that recognize spike proteins in the prefusion shape are much more effective at preventing infection than antibodies that recognize spike proteins in the postfusion shape. McLellan—along with his team members Daniel Wrapp and Nianshuang Wang, plus Barney Graham and
Kizzmekia Corbett Kizzmekia "Kizzy" Shanta Corbett (born January 26, 1986) is an American viral immunologist. She is an Assistant Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Shutzer Assistant Professor a ...
at NIAID's Vaccine Research Center—engineered the spike protein to stay in its initial shape so it can be recognized. This, combined with Moderna's technology that uses
messenger RNA In molecular biology, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a single-stranded molecule of RNA that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene, and is read by a ribosome in the process of synthesizing a protein. mRNA is created during the ...
to encode information about the virus, allows mRNA-1273 to trigger an immune response in vaccinated subjects. The stabilized spike protein developed by McLellan and his colleagues forms the basis of three COVID-19 vaccines that received emergency use authorization in the U.S. In May, 2020, he published a new version of the stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein called HexaPro that is currently being used as the basis for a new vaccine, NDV-HXP-S, which is undergoing trials in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam. These new vaccines are using a harmless avian virus that causes
Newcastle Disease Virulent Newcastle disease (VND), formerly exotic Newcastle disease, is a contagious viral avian disease affecting many domestic and wild bird species; it is transmissible to humans. Though it can infect humans, most cases are non-symptomati ...
. This vaccine has the benefit of being easy to grow in chicken eggs, which are the basis of existing
Influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...
vaccines and are easier for developing nations to produce. McLellan and his team worked with pharmaceutical company
Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company, Trade name, doing business as Lilly, is an American multinational Medication, pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 count ...
to develop their monoclonal antibody treatment
bamlanivimab Bamlanivimab is a monoclonal antibody developed by AbCellera Biologics and Eli Lilly as a treatment for COVID-19. The medication was granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2020, and ...
(LY-CoV555), which received emergency use authorization from the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...
in November 2020. In April 2021, the EUA was revoked. In a separate but related project, McLellan and Daniel Wrapp worked with colleagues at the NIAID Vaccine Research Center and
Ghent University Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...
to develop an antibody therapy for COVID-19 based on antibodies produced by a Winter (llama), a llama. Initial tests indicate that their antibody blocks viruses that display the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein from infecting cells in culture. They reported their findings in ''
Cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...
'' on May 5, 2020. As of May 2020, the team was preparing to conduct preclinical studies in animals such as hamsters or nonhuman primates, with the hopes of next testing in humans.


RSV research

Respiratory syncytial virus Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), also called human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) and human orthopneumovirus, is a virus that causes infections of the respiratory tract. It is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. Its name is derive ...
(RSV) is a very common, contagious
virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...
that causes infections of the
respiratory tract The respiratory tract is the subdivision of the respiratory system involved with the process of conducting air to the alveoli for the purposes of gas exchange in mammals. The respiratory tract is lined with respiratory epithelium as respirato ...
. RSV is the single most common cause of respiratory hospitalization in infants, reinfection remains common throughout the lifetime, and it is an important
pathogen In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...
in all age groups. McLellan, along with Barney S. Graham and Peter Kwong of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...
'
Vaccine Research Center The Vaccine Research Center (VRC), is an intramural division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The mission of ...
, spearheaded the development of a protein subunit vaccine against RSV called DS-Cav1. When the work began, McLellan was a postdoctoral researcher at VRC working in Graham's and Kwong's labs. The
antigen In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule, moiety, foreign particulate matter, or an allergen, such as pollen, that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...
of this RSV vaccine, a stabilized version of the virus' F protein, was developed using structure-based vaccine design. Structure-based vaccines are developed through a rational design process that uses information about the atomic structure of vulnerable parts of a pathogen to create a synthetic molecule that the human immune system recognizes as pathogenic and creates potent antibodies against. In a phase 1 clinical trial, DS-Cav1 was shown to be safe and to elicit "a robust boost in RSV F-specific antibodies and neutralising activity that was sustained above baseline for at least 44 weeks", according to a study published in April 2021 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. The first FDA-approved RSV vaccine, AREXVY (developed by
GSK plc GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...
), uses a version of this antigen and was approved in May 2023 for adults aged 60 and older by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...
(FDA). As of October 10, 2022, at least three other companies are testing candidate RSV vaccines based on stabilized prefusion F proteins in older adults in Phase 3 trials:
Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...
,
Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...
, and
Moderna Moderna, Inc. ( ) is an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that focuses on RNA therapeutics, primarily mRNA vaccines. These vaccines use a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to carry inst ...
.


Honors and awards

In 2020, Jason McLellan was one of seven researchers honored with a
Golden Goose Award The Golden Goose Award is a United States award in recognition of scientists whose federally funded basic research has led to innovations or inventions with significant impact on humanity or society. Created by Congressman Jim Cooper of Tennessee ...
from the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
in recognition of
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
research. He was the 2020 recipient of the William Prusoff Memorial Award from the
International Society for Antiviral Research The International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR) is a scientific society that focuses on the discovery and clinical application of antiviral agents. It was founded in 1987 to encourage the exchange of information and collaborative resear ...
, which honors a young scientist who has shown excellence in antiviral research and promise for future contributions to the field. Previous honors include the Norman P. Salzman Memorial Award in Virology (2012), the Charles H. Hood Foundation Child Health Research Award (2015), the
American Crystallographic Association The American Crystallographic Association, Inc. (ACA) is a non-profit, scientific organization for scientists who study the structure of matter via crystallographic methodologies. Since its founding in 1949 it has amassed over 2000 members worldwi ...
Etter Early Career Award (2018) and the Viruses Young Investigator in Virology Prize (2019). The Academy of Medicine, Engineering & Science of Texas awarded McLellan its 2022 Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award in Medicine. Also in 2022, Dartmouth College awarded McLellan the inaugural McGuire Family Prize for Societal Impact, and he was named a finalist for the Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists. In 2023, he was chosen for the
NAS Award in Molecular Biology The NAS Award in Molecular Biology is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for recent notable discovery in molecular biology by a young scientist who is a citizen of the United States." It has been awarded annually since its inception ...
and the Welch Foundation's Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research, and named a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors. In 2024, he was honored with a 2024 IVI-SK bioscience Park MahnHoon Award by the International Vaccine Institute. In 2025, he was selected for induction into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a US patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operate ...
.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McLellan, Jason University of Texas at Austin faculty Year of birth missing (living people) Living people