On August 31, the first two participants were injected with PopVax 🇮🇳’s first fridge-stable RNA vaccine candidate in a Phase I clinical trial in Australia. We built this vaccine at our RNA Foundry in Hyderabad – from computational design to GMP manufacturing. Here's how:

PVX-001 is a broadly-protective COVID-19 vaccine candidate intended to maintain efficacy against new variants of SARS-CoV-2 as the virus mutates. It is built on our RNA-encoded VLP architecture to elicit a broad & potent immune response. Read more here:

Our lipid nanoparticle formulation, based on our own novel ionizable lipid PVXL-150, keeps the vaccine stable at 2-8 °C, regular refrigerator temperatures, for at least 9 months, rather than the -20 or -80 °C required by the first-generation mRNA vaccines approved for COVID-19.

This trial is an essential step towards our Million Lives Mission: to develop novel vaccines and therapeutics over the next decade that save 1 million lives each year. We are developing HCV, TB, Strep A, and rabies vaccines, as well as personalized cancer & autoimmune therapies.

I’ve waited 5 years to write these words, from when I first read about AlphaFold 2 and realized that machine learning was the future of medicine – before the company even existed, when it was just the kernel of an idea in my mind, and almost no one thought it was a good idea.

PopVax is accelerating to match the scale of our vision. From a standing start, we’ve generated millions of candidate proteins using frontier machine learning methods and AI models, designed 1000+ novel lipids, and screened over 5000 unique LNP formulations.

We’ve injected over 1300 distinct vaccine constructs into animals and conducted tens of thousands of functional assays. Each experiment allows us to improve our designs and raises the ceiling of what our medicines can do to help people in need.

This will be the first of many first-in-human trials, each following sooner than the last, with increasing rapidity until we are translating new medicines to patients in weeks, not years. We will take many shots on goal, and we won’t win ’em all – life is stochastic, after all.

Thanks to the @GatesFoundation, @VitalikButerin, @moskov & @CariTuna’s @goodventures, @coeff_giving, @AIC_CCMB, and NIAID for making all of this possible.

If you’re excited about what we’re doing, we’re hiring for a bunch of critical roles in analytical method development, quality control, and immunology, as well as a senior legal role – take a look at

@PopVaxIndia All the best! Rooting for you guys.

@PopVaxIndia Thanks man, likewise!

@PopVaxIndia Just curious why you chose Australia over India for the trial?

@PopVaxIndia Congrats Soham, exciting stuff!

@PopVaxIndia Congratulations 🎉

@PopVaxIndia 🔥🔥 So cool

@PopVaxIndia The video is so good, who made it?

@PopVaxIndia @pbshgthm did most of it!

@PopVaxIndia Great milestone, @sohamsankaran and PopVax team! Excited to follow along.

@PopVaxIndia Amazing! This is what we must see more in India.

@PopVaxIndia Congrats Soham! This is amazing!

@PopVaxIndia congrats!!

@PopVaxIndia To many more…. Congratulations Soham. 🧿

@PopVaxIndia W congrats

@PopVaxIndia amazing!!

@neilshroff @PopVaxIndia @sanjeevsanyal please help them so they can do these trials in India

Congrats. Inspiring story. Great video. PopVax, an open-source mRNA platform based in India, cracked the refrigerator-temperature stability challenge by engineering completely custom chemical components and architectures rather than relying on standard commercial vaccine recipes. [1] Their approach targets stability on three distinct fronts: ## 1. Proprietary Ionizable Lipids Instead of using the standard, federally controlled ionizable lipids found in first-generation Pfizer or Moderna vaccines (which degrade rapidly if not frozen), PopVax designed an entirely new, proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery platform. They engineered novel ionizable lipids specifically structured to remain stable and hold their shape at normal refrigerator temperatures (+2°C to +8°C) without losing their ability to deliver the mRNA safely into human cells. [1] ## 2. RNA-Encoded Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) Instead of delivering standard mRNA strands that float freely inside a lipid bubble, PopVax developed a novel mRNA architecture. When the body processes their vaccine (such as their clinical candidate, PVX-001), the mRNA instructs cells to create Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) that display the target viral antigens. [1, 2] * * The Stability Benefit: Structuring the mRNA architecture to assemble into symmetric, highly organized VLPs makes the formulation highly robust. Preclinical data showed that this design allowed the vaccine to remain potent and elicit a vastly stronger, broader neutralizing antibody response compared to standard wild-type mRNA sequences. [1, 2, 3] [1] [ [2] [ [3] [

@PopVaxIndia Congrats dude

@PopVaxIndia Congrats! This is fantastic!

@PopVaxIndia Why do we need to get vaccinated?

@PopVaxIndia congrats bro. so happy to read it.

@PopVaxIndia Awesome! Soham and all at @PopVaxIndia

@PopVaxIndia Excellent work. Can we expect this for cancer soon..?

@PopVaxIndia Crazy Team !! @snehasreenivas5

@PopVaxIndia Congrats Soham, exciting stuff!

@PopVaxIndia I am never putting this in my body.

@PopVaxIndia This is incredible, congrats folks!

@neilshroff @PopVaxIndia Congrats!

@PopVaxIndia Wow this is amazing! Congrats guys

@PopVaxIndia Wow 🤯

@PopVaxIndia Congratulations to all of you!!!

@PopVaxIndia All the best

@PopVaxIndia Congrats soham and the team. Absolutely cracked