What the “hack” of the source code of the Pfizer vaccine revealed

In the area of ​​computing, programs are written in code, which can be presented in many forms; some more complex, and others that aim to be simpler and more readable. In the same way, in the natural world there is also a source code, in the form of strands of DNA and RNA that contain the code for the building blocks of life.

On the other hand is the reverse engineering, the analysis of the functions, uses, location, design, geometric and material aspects of an artifact or object. It basically consists of “disassemble” something for build it the same or better, cheaper or more suitable for a particular use. As if it were a toy, the idea is to discover how it is made and how it works.

That is precisely what the work of Bert Hubert, cybersecurity consultant, founder of a company that names internet domains, and a past as a hacker focused on open source software is all about.

In a post published on your site, and based on the genetic information of the vaccine BNT162b2 or Tozinameran, published by the World Health Organization, Hubert shows how he hacked, dismembered and analyzed part by part 4284 Pfizer / BioNTech Vaccine Characters, as if it were the code of a computer program, providing interesting data on genetic engineering and immunology.

“At the beginning of the vaccine production process, someone uploaded this code into a DNA printer, which then turned the disk bytes into actual DNA molecules“, He says. “With this machine you can get small amounts of DNA, which after numerous biological and chemical processes are converted into RNA in the vaccine vial.”

This is where the first comparison jumps: “RNA is the volatile version of DNA’s ‘working memory'”he points out.

To make a simpler analogy, DNA is like a flash memory in computers. While DNA is strong and reliable, just as computers do not execute code directly from flash memory, the code is copied to a faster system, more versatile but much more fragile, which in computers we know as RAM (the same thing we look at before buying a notebook), and that in biological terms, it is RNA.

Also, unlike flash memory, RAM degrades very quickly unless you take care of yourself. The same reason why the Pfizer / BioNTech mRNA vaccine It should be stored as low as -70ºC.

Nicolás Muena, researcher at the Science and Life Foundation, is excited about the job. “It is a very technical subject and is studied in genetics at university, but making the analogy with computer science seems very interesting to me,” he says.

“It is a summary of 30 years or more of research, which converge in how to use messenger RNA, transient molecule that is just like spy movie messages, which will self-destruct after being used. It is a message that Lasts very little, but that can be used to deliver instructions and then discarded, and also cannot modify our genetic information”.

“In the work they show the modifications of how cells use these molecules to be able to make their own pieces. We use all that knowledge to deceive them, inventing a piece to make what we want. It is a technology that has been used in the laboratory for years, but we do not think we could see it used in our body. Give you an instruction, so you can take this information, produce what we want and then delete it”.

“This has applications in many other things, such as gene therapies against cancer or other viruses”, He says.

“Many people wonder ‘why the vaccine took only one year, what confidence can you give me‘, but this technology has been around for 30 years, ”says Nicolás Muena. “The article reveals all improvements that were achieved. Before, this itself had not worked without the RNA ending up degrading – hence the low temperatures – and the first time it was tried it did not work. It is a history of decades of failures and errors until arriving at what we see today ”.

Among the discoveries made thanks to this work, the researcher indicates that “this vaccine contains modifications so that the cell’s own immune system does not attack this RNA, and it goes unnoticed. Another modification makes the cell recognizes the RNA as its own and enters as if it were from the nucleus, processing it as if it were part of the cell, but in truth is producing something that comes from outside. The interesting thing is that each one of these modifications arose based on errors, things that never worked ”.

“There is another modification that makes these instructions take priority in the cell, above the other things. As long as this instruction sheet is inside the body, cells are going to make this protein in droves, and that makes it very effective. As if they were working overtime ”, he adds.

“There is even a signal so that the cell can take this as its own, not attack it, produce it en masse and also locate it in the correct region of the cell so that it is recognized by the immune system. It is a signal that says ‘you make this for me’, and sends it to the surface to produce the defenses ”.

Muena maintains that another modification, related to his field, virology, has to do with Mers (the cousin of this coronavirus, which attacked Asia in 2012), and a study that in 2017 established that it was possible to stabilize the ‘spike’ protein inducing small changes or mutations. “This protein goes through different structural changes: it is like a key that enters the cell’s ‘lock’, then opens it to fuse the virus with the cell, and thus release the genetic information. It helps the immune system to recognize the state before fusion -It is the Achilles heel of the virus-, the state in which you have to arm the antibodies to block it, because if it is done in the post-fusion state, those antibodies will not be neutralizing. In 2017, scientists managed to block this protein spike in its prefusion state, before turning the lock“, Explain.

“If we can generate vaccines in this state, pre-fusion, these vaccines will be more effective, and it will be an incredible change. This technology is being applied against other viruses and will make messenger RNA-based vaccines more effective, because we can block proteins in the state most susceptible to being neutralized. This information was taken by Pfizer and Moderna for their vaccines, ”he says.

“The last change, related to the field of lipid biophysics, and has to do with the secret of Pfizer and Moderna, Are the lipid nanoparticles, what envelop the messenger RNA and act as a protective film of fat, so the enzymes do not attack it. Moderna improved this method and that’s why You can store the medicine at -20ºC, against Pfizer’s -70ºC. But they don’t tell what the particles are made of, because it is part of their secret, ”says Muena.

“Finally, as our cells are also covered with a lipid membrane – therefore of the same nature – it is easier for them to arrive and fuse and make the messenger RNA reach the cells. It is a delivery and protection system”, He assures.