Innovative vaccine against COVID-19 nears human trials
A GROUP of scientists from Boğaziçi University is hoping to begin human trials of a unique vaccine model soon that will be used against the coronavirus. Professor Nesrin Özören, who heads the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at a university in Istanbul, acquired the patent for the technology based on microparticles. It helps vaccines last 30 days at room temperature, an advantage over other vaccines that require a cold chain for transportation.
Özören’s team completed animal trials and will switch to human trials early this summer. “We are now working on the method of inoculation. We want to make it something that can be taken orally or nasally unlike other vaccines,” she told Demirören News Agency (DHA) yesterday.
The project actually dates back about a decade but will be tested first with the COVID-19 vaccine. Turkish scientists at the university have been working on a locally made vaccine since last year. Theirs are among a number of coronavirus vaccine development projects underway all across
the country. The technology helps to inject microparticles carrying cell surface proteins to the body and trigger the immunity system. Özören said the method can be used for other diseases and health conditions. “We want to develop an oral vaccine for polio,” she said.
On the vaccine they developed, she said it can be modified easily for protection against emerging variants of coronavirus. “We are using recombinant DNA technology, and this allows us to change the vaccine to respond to any new variant,” she said.
TURKEY aims to strengthen cooperation in the infrastructure development of Iraq, the Turkish transport and infrastructure minister said yesterday.
“Opening a new land border crossing between our countries and establishing a direct railway connection is our priority,” Adil Karaismailoğlu said at a news conference in Istanbul ahead of his meeting with Iraqi counterpart Nasser Hussein Bandar.
Turkey wants to launch projects to improve the well-being and quality of life of the Iraqi people, Karaismailoğlu said.
The two ministers were to discuss joint steps in the fields of motorways, railways and aviation.
For his part, Bandar also said the two countries are willing to cooperate in these fields.
“The most important of these is what we will do in the railway,” the minister said.
He said they are planning a railway line that runs from Al Faw Grand Port in the southern province of Basra to the capital Baghdad and then to the Turkish border, without providing further details.
“Currently, our work on this railway continues. We bought some large construction machinery and vehicles from Turkey. We imported large trucks to transport crude oil from north to south,” Bandar noted.
Iraq’s government in December agreed to sign a $2.62 billion contract with South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering & Construction to build the first phase of the Al Faw Grand Port.
The long-planned and repeatedly delayed giant commodities port is one of several projects that Iraq hopes will create a shorter transportation corridor between the Middle East and Europe, bypassing the Suez Canal.
For international trade and transitions between Turkey and Iraq, the Habur border gate is currently in use.
Bandar further said Iraq’s aviation problems will be fixed with the help of Turkey.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is “problematic, shadowed by terrorism,” Good Party (İP) deputy chairperson Yavuz Ağıralioğlu stated Wednesday, adding that his party will approve the legal bids to lift the immunity from prosecution of some HDP deputies accused with links to terrorist organizations.
Speaking on the police inquiry reports prepared for nine HDP deputies, Ağıralioğlu at CNN Türk said: “We see the HDP as problematic, as shadowed by terrorism. Therefore, we will say ‘Yes.’”
Nine HDP deputies, Fatma Kurtulan, Garo Paylan, Hüda Kaya, Meral Danış Beştaş, Hakkı Saruhan Oluç, Serpil Kemalbay Pekgözegü, Sezai Temelli, Pero Dündar and Pervin Buldan are accused in connection with the Oct. 6-8 incidents.
The HDP triggered a response from its supporters following the Daesh terror group’s attack in the northern Syrian city of Ain al-Arab (Kobani), resulting in mass incidents of violence in 35 provinces, 96 districts, and 131 settlements on Oct. 6-8.
The police inquiry report sent to parliament includes the accusations “disrupting the unity, integrity of the state,” “murder,” “attempted murder,” “looting” as well as “burning the flag.”
The legal bids will first be handled by a parliamentary commission which will decide whether to put them to a vote in the general assembly.
Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop told reporters yesterday it was “saddening” for Parliament to have to deal with so many dossiers with such charges, including, “spreading terrorist propaganda” and “provoking hatred.”
This week 33 dossiers to lift the immunity from prosecution of deputies were sent to the Parliament.
The HDP has come under fire for its close links to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU.
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has frequently accused the HDP of being affiliated with the PKK terrorist organization and had demanded the party be closed over “supporting terrorism.”
The general stance of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), on the other side, is that “the judiciary has become politicized and is largely under the control of the ruling party.” The HDP in response to the accusations criticized the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) for using the Gara massacre to target it politically.