Dr. Amitabha Gupta, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, “The History of Vaccines”

Our program on August 6, 2020, featured Dr. Amitabha “Guppy” Gupta of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.  Dr. Gupta is the scientific content strategist for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Philanthropy Department; and was formerly part of the Fred Hutch Basic Sciences team.  Dr. Gupta has a BA in Molecular Biology from Colgate and a PhD from Columbia in Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology.

You can find Dr. Gupta’s slides here.

Surprisingly, Dr. Gupta noted that a quarter of the researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center were doing viral work.

To achieve ‘herd immunity’ from Covid-19, 60-70% of the population must become immune from the disease.  This can occur as the result of natural immunity (recovering from the illness) or from vaccines.  In some ways, both accomplish the same thing:  The body is ‘taught’ to fight the virus.

Dr. Gupta noted that social distancing and masks are effective at reducing transmission.  He recommended wearing masks—even while running.

The virus, he said, enters the lungs and makes lots of copies of itself, destroying macrophages.

He talked about mechanisms to defeat the virus:  Neutralization blocks the process in which the virus binds to cells.  Opsonization and sensitization/complement activation reduce the severity of the disease.

Dr. Gupta noted that is normal for antibodies to fade in the body following the illness.  If re-exposed, however, the body will manufacture new antibodies to fight the disease.

The first vaccine was for smallpox.  It was discovered in 1796.  Twenty million people died from small pox in the twentieth century.  It required 184 years to fully eradicate the disease (in 1980).

The current research to acquire a vaccine against Covid-19 is radically different.  Normally, vaccine approval requires three phases of trials which normally require from five to more than seven years of trials.  Operation Warp Speed, he said, is combining all three phases.  There is, he said, “a level of collaboration never seen before.”  Normally, there are 2-3 trials of vaccines; there are 157 vaccines in trials as of July 29 in development.  Thirty-five of these efforts are now in clinical trials.

While there is never certainty in science, there is reason for great optimism in these development efforts.

Thank you to David and Pam Mushen for securing this program.