Research and career
After graduating from Johns Hopkins, Patel moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland where she worked for MedImmune, a company that looked to create vaccinations for tuberculosis, respiratory syncytial virus and Lyme disease. [2] She was the sixteenth member of the MedImmune team. [3] Later the company eventually acquired by AstraZeneca. [3]
In 2015, Patel left AstraZeneca to join Novavax, a biotechnology start-up in Maryland. Her research considers antibody discovery and vaccine development. [4] She oversaw the development of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, and led an all-woman team. [4] [5] [6] [7] After Patel received the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in February 2020, she designed and characterized over twenty variants of the protein. [3] This involved identifying the locations where antibodies bind to the protein, and developing tests to check whether the spike is consistent between manufacturing plant. [3] The vaccines developed by Patel and Novavax make use of recombinant DNA. [8] In an interview with Science Magazine, Patel said that she had worked eighteen hour days to develop the vaccine, but didn't get tired. [9] They were awarded a $1.6 billion contract to run clinical trials. [10] In 2021, the vaccine was shown to be 89% effective in large trials in the United Kingdom. [11] [12]
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