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We’re involved in a broad range of activities with government and industry in response to COVID-19, including preclinical testing of potential vaccines, understanding the virus and its mutations, monitoring wastewater, supporting manufacturing of surgical masks, and analysing and sharing trends in data and the impact on health services. This is part of our efforts to future-proof Australia against the impacts of future pandemics, supporting national and global efforts to prevent, detect, respond to and recover from the threat of infectious disease.

COVID-19 vaccine and antiviral research

Our work is a critical part of the rapid global response to COVID-19. Our efforts have been helping promising vaccine candidates to progress to human trials.

COVID-19 vaccine testing

Our preclinical trials of leading vaccine candidates are supporting the global race against the pandemic to find a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine.

COVID-19 vaccine manufacture

We worked with vaccine developers to produce small volumes of candidate vaccines to the highest quality standards, for use in trials. If successful, our manufacturing process can be scaled with an industry partner.

Impact of G-strain on COVID-19 vaccines

Our researchers have confirmed the now-dominant G-strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus should not adversely affect vaccine candidates in development.

Antiviral drugs for COVID-19

We are working with the research sector and industry on the preclinical evaluation of potential antiviral drugs, to see if they are effective against COVID-19.

Understanding the SARS-CoV-2 virus

The more we know about COVID-19, the better equipped we are to fight the pandemic. From understanding how the virus is mutating to how long it survives, our researchers are working to improve our knowledge of COVID-19 and the virus that causes it.

How the virus may be changing

Our researchers have studied SARS CoV-2’s genomic sequence to understand how the virus is evolving.

SARS-CoV-2 survival

We have looked at how long the virus survives on six common surfaces at three different temperatures, 20°C, 30°C and 40°C.

Keeping track of COVID-19

Monitoring wastewater for COVID-19

Australian researchers have achieved the first step in developing an early warning surveillance system to track COVID-19 prevalence in the community through tracing the presence of the novel coronavirus gene in raw sewage.

Tracking the spread and forecasting infection rates

We are providing federal and state health agencies with COVID-19 data tracking and forecasting to support decisions around Australia’s outbreak response.

Forecasting the spread of diseases

From advanced data analytics to scenario planning and time series modelling to natural language processing, our research is helping understand the spread of the virus, enhance public health preparedness and prevent the spread of misinformation online.

How a vaccine gets made

The vaccine pipeline

We worked on the development, testing and manufacture of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus responsible for causing COVID-19.

Supporting Australia's pandemic response

Mask Testing Facility

We've opened Australia’s first accredited single-use surgical face mask testing facility. The facility enables manufacturers to test their products to Australian and international standards in Australia and supply healthcare workers with this vital piece of protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, and beyond.

COVID-19 face masks

We're testing the performance of advanced materials produced by local manufacturers to boost the supply of medical equipment needed in Australia's fight against COVID-19.

Face shields

We're using 3D printing to produce two designs of protective face shields for Queensland healthcare workers.

Telehealth and technology during COVID-19

As the world slows down, the demand for technological solutions has gone viral. Digital solutions have quickly shifted from a slow adoption path to a record pace of uptake. But none is this is new to CSIRO having been at the forefront of eHealth solutions and technological innovation and this is also helping the response to COVID-19.

Our global response

We are working closely within international consortia – The Biosafety Level 4 Zoonotic Laboratory Network (BSL4ZNet) and European Virus Archive - GLOBAL (EVAg) – to share information on activity, best practice and reagents and materials, including SARS CoV-2 viruses. This will ensure we do not compete or duplicate our research and development efforts.

We have established a partnership with the Peter Doherty Institute to test candidate antiviral compounds from international manufacturers. We have represented Australia in a World Health Organisation meeting on COVID-19. We are in dialogue with several international consortia in establishing novel diagnostic capability.

We have received funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global group that aims to speed up the development of vaccines and cut short the COVID-19 pandemic. With this funding, we undertook pre-clinical testing of two candidate vaccines.

COVID-19 blogs

Visit our CSIROscope blog for features and articles about the science behind our COVID-19 research.

Resources for media

Latest updates, comments from our experts and multimedia resources for media.

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