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