MRNA vaccine - Quiz
  • 1. What are polyplexes?
A) Lipid-based microfluidic mixers
B) Small interfering RNA strands
C) Cationic polymers mixed with mRNA
D) Natural ribonucleases
  • 2. What is the primary function of polyplexes in mRNA vaccination?
A) Protecting mRNA from ribonucleases
B) Creating ionizable cationic lipids
C) Targeting only the lymphatic system
D) Scaling up microfluidic production
  • 3. Which natural cationic peptide is mentioned as being used to encapsulate mRNA?
A) Protamine
B) Polymer vector
C) Lipid nanoparticle
D) Onpattro
  • 4. What was the first FDA-approved drug delivery system using lipid nanoparticles?
A) Onpattro
B) Protamine encapsulation
C) COVID-19 mRNA vaccine
D) Polyplex coating
  • 5. In what year did the FDA first approve the use of lipid nanoparticles?
A) 2015
B) 2020
C) 2022
D) 2018
  • 6. Why were new lipids invented for mRNA delivery compared to siRNA delivery?
A) siRNA lipids are non-cationic
B) Lipids for siRNA were too expensive
C) mRNA strands are much longer than siRNA
D) mRNA requires higher temperatures
  • 7. What is the primary function of the lipid layer in nanoparticle delivery?
A) Protection against degradation
B) Reducing cellular intake
C) Increasing mRNA strand length
D) Replacing the need for microfluidics
  • 8. How can the targeting of specific cell types be achieved using lipid nanoparticles?
A) Adjusting the patient's lymphatic flow
B) Customizing the lipid's outer layer with ligands
C) Using different ribonuclease enzymes
D) Changing the internal mRNA length
  • 9. What is a noted difficulty in studying lipid nanoparticle delivery?
A) Inconsistency between in vivo and in vitro applications
B) Inability to administer intravenously
C) Lack of protective lipid layers
D) High cost of producing mRNA strands
  • 10. What is a common route for administering lipid nanoparticles to the body?
A) Direct ribonuclease injection
B) Intravenously
C) Encapsulation in siRNA
D) Oral ingestion of polymers
  • 11. What technology is primarily used to create lipid nanoparticles?
A) Ribonuclease synthesis
B) Microfluidics
C) Massive parallel pipetting
D) Direct polymer mixing
  • 12. Why is scaling up microfluidics difficult?
A) They require high temperatures to function
B) The lipids are incompatible with microchannels
C) They consume too much electricity
D) They exploit microscale behaviors of liquids
  • 13. How did Pfizer solve the scaling problem for COVID-19 vaccines?
A) Replacing lipids with cationic polymers
B) Eliminating the need for reaction chambers
C) Running many microfluidic chambers in parallel
D) Developing larger microfluidic mixers
  • 14. What was the main manufacturing bottleneck for COVID-19 mRNA vaccines?
A) Scaling microfluidic reaction chambers
B) Protamine availability
C) FDA approval delays
D) Synthesizing mRNA strands
  • 15. What type of lipids are particularly difficult to manufacture in large quantities?
A) Natural protamine lipids
B) Ionizable cationic lipids
C) Polyplex-derived lipids
D) Standard ribonuclease lipids
  • 16. Before 2020, in what quantities were ionizable cationic lipids typically manufactured?
A) Several tons
B) Grams or kilograms
C) Liter quantities only
D) Micro-milligrams
  • 17. Which of the following is a component of synthetic mRNA?
A) Introns
B) 3'-poly(A) tail
C) Histone proteins
D) Double-stranded DNA
  • 18. What part of the mRNA encodes the relevant antigen?
A) 3'-untranslated region
B) 5'-cap
C) Open reading frame
D) 5'-untranslated region
  • 19. How can the stability and translation of mRNA be enhanced?
A) Reducing the length of the UTR
B) Removing the 5' cap
C) Modifying structural components
D) Increasing RNAase concentration
  • 20. What happens if mRNA nucleotides are modified?
A) Loss of the poly(A) tail
B) Decreased mRNA half-life
C) Increased RNAase sensitivity
D) Decreased innate immune activation
  • 21. What is the result of replacing rare codons with synonymous codons?
A) Reduced mRNA translation
B) Increased mutation rate
C) Enhanced protein production
D) Inhibition of the open reading frame
  • 22. Why does mRNA struggle to cross the cell membrane?
A) It is too small
B) Electrostatic repulsion
C) It lacks a poly(A) tail
D) It is positively charged
  • 23. What enzyme degrades mRNA in the skin and blood?
A) Proteases
B) RNAases
C) DNA polymerase
D) T7 polymerase
  • 24. What is the source of the mRNA construct?
A) T7 phage protein fragments
B) Engineered plasmid DNA
C) Natural eukaryotic ribosomes
D) In vivo transcription in blood
  • 25. Why is mRNA unable to cross the cell membrane via simple diffusion?
A) It is not negatively charged
B) It is too small
C) It lacks a 5' cap
D) It is too large
  • 26. In what year did the first human clinical trial using ex vivo dendritic cells transfected with mRNA take place?
A) 2008
B) 2005
C) 2010
D) 2001
  • 27. What method was reported in 2005 to transport mRNA inside cells without triggering the body's defense system?
A) Lipid nanoparticle encapsulation
B) Viral vector delivery
C) Modified nucleosides
D) Dendritic cell transfection
  • 28. When were the results of the first mRNA vaccine trial injected directly into the body against cancer cells reported?
A) 2001
B) 2008
C) 2013
D) 2010
  • 29. Which company was founded in 2008 to develop mRNA biotechnologies?
A) Moderna
B) Pfizer
C) BioNTech
D) AstraZeneca
  • 30. Which company was founded in 2010 to develop mRNA biotechnologies?
A) Moderna
B) BioNTech
C) Merck
D) GSK
  • 31. What was the name of the DARPA biotechnology research program launched to develop emerging technologies?
A) ADEPT
B) RAPID
C) VACCINE
D) DEFEND
  • 32. How much was the DARPA grant awarded to Moderna at the time of the ADEPT program?
A) $50 million
B) $100 million
C) $25 million
D) $10 million
  • 33. In what year did the first human clinical trial for an mRNA vaccine against an infectious agent begin?
A) 2015
B) 2013
C) 2008
D) 2010
  • 34. What infectious agent was targeted in the first human mRNA vaccine clinical trial?
A) Rabies
B) Influenza
C) Chikungunya virus
D) Zika virus
  • 35. Which of the following viruses was mentioned as a target for mRNA vaccine research?
A) Ebola
B) HIV
C) Chikungunya virus
D) Smallpox
  • 36. What is the primary function of the mRNA blueprint in the cells?
A) To destroy lipid nanoparticles
B) To replicate the cell's DNA
C) To store energy
D) To build foreign proteins
  • 37. What protects the mRNA strands and aids in their absorption?
A) Lipid nanoparticles
B) Protein capsules
C) Cellular enzymes
D) Antibodies
  • 38. What is reactogenicity in the context of vaccines?
A) The method of storage
B) The tendency to produce adverse reactions
C) The speed of immune response
D) The cost of production
  • 39. Which group of people may have an adverse reaction to mRNA vaccines?
A) People who are allergic to peanuts
B) People susceptible to autoimmune responses
C) People with viral infections
D) People with high blood pressure
  • 40. Which agency was the first to approve an mRNA vaccine?
A) UK MHRA
B) European Medicines Agency
C) US FDA
D) World Health Organization
  • 41. In what year was the first successful transfection of mRNA packaged in liposomes published?
A) 1989
B) 2020
C) 1993
D) 1995
  • 42. What was shown to be stimulated by liposome-encapsulated mRNA in 1993?
A) DNA strands
B) Red blood cells
C) T cells
D) Platelets
  • 43. Does mRNA interact with genomic DNA?
A) Only in cancer cells
B) Yes, always
C) Only in viral cells
D) No
  • 44. When did BioNTech and Moderna receive approval for their mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines?
A) January 2020
B) December 2020
C) December 2021
D) May 2021
  • 45. Which specific vaccine was granted emergency authorization by the MHRA in December 2020?
A) mFlusiva
B) mResvia
C) mCombriax
D) BNT162b2
  • 46. What are the markers on a pathogen that antibodies target called?
A) Antigens
B) Dendritic cells
C) Pathogens
D) Ribosomes
  • 47. How are antigens traditionally prepared?
A) Inside the ribosome
B) Outside the body
C) Inside the cell nucleus
D) By the dendritic cells directly
  • 48. What is the name of Moderna's mRNA vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus?
A) mFlusiva
B) BNT162b2
C) mCombriax
D) mResvia
  • 49. What cellular machinery do dendritic cells use to produce viral antigens?
A) Ribosomes
B) Proteasomes
C) MHC molecules
D) Genomic DNA
  • 50. What breaks down the viral antigens after they are produced?
A) Dendritic cells
B) Ribosomes
C) Proteasomes
D) MHC molecules
  • 51. What molecules transport the antigen to the cellular membrane?
A) Proteasomes
B) Ribosomes
C) MHC molecules
D) Antibodies
  • 52. Where do dendritic cells migrate once they are activated?
A) Bloodstream
B) Lymph nodes
C) Cell nucleus
D) Liver
  • 53. When was mFlusiva approved for medical use in the United States?
A) August 2026
B) May 2024
C) December 2020
D) February 2026
  • 54. How long does it take for the body to degrade the introduced mRNA fragments?
A) A few days
B) Several years
C) They are never degraded
D) Several months
  • 55. What is the simplest method for ex vivo dendritic cells to take up mRNA?
A) Viral transduction
B) Electroporation
C) Liposomal fusion
D) Endocytosis
  • 56. Which method is used to improve the efficiency of mRNA uptake in dendritic cells in a laboratory setting?
A) Electroporation
B) Incubation
C) Osmosis
D) Centrifugation
  • 57. According to the text, what does in vivo mRNA delivery imitate?
A) A surgical procedure
B) A regular infection
C) A secondary immune response
D) A nutritional deficiency
  • 58. When did the knowledge of naked mRNA uptake first emerge?
A) 2010s
B) 1990s
C) 1970s
D) 2000s
  • 59. What kind of immune response is triggered by naked mRNA delivery?
A) Relatively weak
B) Delayed by several years
C) Non-existent
D) Extremely potent
  • 60. Where were the first worldwide clinical studies for naked mRNA vaccination performed?
A) Intradermal injections
B) Intravenous drips
C) Intranasal sprays
D) Intramuscular injections
  • 61. Which type of viruses are mentioned as being engineered as vectors?
A) Retroviruses
B) Coronaviruses
C) Adenoviruses
D) Poxviruses
  • 62. Where is mRNA translated within the cell?
A) Cytosol
B) Mitochondria
C) Golgi apparatus
D) Nucleus
  • 63. What is the result of sequence engineering mRNA by enriching guanine-cytosine content?
A) Decreased stability
B) Integration into the genome
C) Increased translation
D) Faster degradation
  • 64. Which of these is a model animal mentioned for clinical viral vector studies?
A) Sheep
B) Chicken
C) Dogs
D) Rats
  • 65. What process consumes the majority of days in the mRNA vaccine production run?
A) Sequence engineering
B) Rigorous quality control
C) Lipid encapsulation
D) Molecular cloning
  • 66. Which specific modified nucleoside is mentioned in the text?
A) Pseudouridines
B) Thymine-pseudouridine
C) Cytosine-adenosine
D) Guanine-uracil
  • 67. Before 2020, how many mRNA technology platforms had been approved for therapeutic use in humans?
A) Ten
B) One
C) Five
D) Zero
  • 68. How long is the post-final human trial period mentioned before authorization debates occurred?
A) Eight weeks
B) Six months
C) Two weeks
D) One year
  • 69. How does the text define severe side effects?
A) Those that prevent daily activity
B) Any fever above 100 degrees
C) Side effects requiring hospitalization
D) Any reaction lasting longer than a week
  • 70. What was the short-term efficacy rate of the Moderna and Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines against the original virus?
A) Around 50 percent
B) Over 90 percent
C) Less than 80 percent
D) Exactly 75 percent
  • 71. How many open reading frames does a non-amplifying mRNA vaccine have?
A) Two
B) One
C) Three
D) Four
  • 72. In a non-amplifying vaccine, what determines the total amount of mRNA available to the cell?
A) The number of open reading frames
B) The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase
C) The amount delivered by the vaccine
D) The cell's internal replication
  • 73. How many open reading frames does self-amplifying mRNA (saRNA) contain?
A) One
B) Three
C) Two
D) Zero
  • 74. What does the second open reading frame in saRNA code for?
A) Lipid nanoparticles
B) RNA-dependent RNA polymerase
C) N1-Methylpseudouridine
D) The antigen of interest
  • 75. Which specific vaccine was the first saRNA COVID vaccine authorized in India?
A) Gemcovac
B) ARCT-154
C) Pfizer
D) Moderna
  • 76. When was Gemcovac authorized in India?
A) January 2020
B) June 2021
C) June 2022
D) November 2023
  • 77. Which company developed the ARCT-154 vaccine?
A) Arcturus Therapeutics
B) Gritstone bio
C) Meiji Seika Pharma
D) GSK
  • 78. When was the saRNA version manufactured by Meiji Seika Pharma authorized in Japan?
A) June 2022
B) January 2021
C) December 2020
D) November 2023
  • 79. Which ingredient is mandatory in saRNA vaccines for reproduction to occur?
A) Uridine
B) DNA polymerase
C) N1-Methylpseudouridine
D) Adjuvants
  • 80. What disease is being researched for an saRNA vaccine in addition to COVID-19?
A) Malaria
B) Ebola
C) Tuberculosis
D) Influenza
  • 81. When did GSK begin a phase 1 trial of an saRNA COVID-19 vaccine?
A) 2021
B) 2023
C) 2022
D) 2019
Created with That Quiz — where a math practice test is always one click away.