Madhuri Vissapragada reimagines COVID vaccines as edible yogurt
Visakhapatnam: A Visakhapatnam-based researcher has developed an edible probiotic yogurt-based vaccine concept for COVID-19, proposing a needle-free alternative to conventional injections.
Madhuri Vissapragada said the idea took shape during her undergraduate years, when the pandemic raised questions about repeated doses, side effects, and the need for easier delivery. “We were working on the structure of the coronavirus, especially the spike protein. Then we started thinking about whether a vaccine could be designed for multiple variants and whether it could be given without the side effects that many people experienced after injections such as swelling, fevers etc,” she recalled.
That line of thought led her to explore an oral vaccine. The result is ‘YoVac’, an edible vaccine prototype developed using probiotic bacteria commonly found in yogurt. The concept involves introducing a gene coding for the spike protein’s receptor-binding domain into Lactobacillus.
Laboratory studies demonstrated that this genetic material could transfer to other bacteria in the gut microbiome, potentially increasing antigen levels and triggering a stronger immune response. The study also found that the modified Lactobacillus in YoVac continued to express the protein for one month when stored at 4 degree Celsius, suggesting shelf-life stability under the tested conditions.
