The development of effective and safe COVID‐19 vaccines is a major move forward in our global effort to control the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. The aims of this study were (1) to develop an inactivated whole‐virus SARS‐CoV‐2 candidate vaccine named BIV1‐CovIran and (2) to determine the safety and potency of BIV1‐CovIran inactivated vaccine candidate against SARS‐CoV‐2. Infectious virus was isolated from nasopharyngeal swab specimen and propagated in Vero cells with clear cytopathic effects in a biosafety level‐3 facility using the World Health Organization’s laboratory biosafety guidance related to COVID‐19. After characterisation of viral seed stocks, the virus working seed was scaled‐up in Vero cells. After chemical inactivation and purification, it was formulated with alum adjuvant. Finally, different animal species were used to determine the toxicity and immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate. The study showed the safety profile in studied animals including guinea pig, rabbit, mice and monkeys. Immunisation at two different doses (3 or 5 μg per dose) elicited a high level of SARS‐CoV‐2 specific and neutralising antibodies in mice, rabbits and nonhuman primates. Rhesus macaques were immunised with the two‐dose schedule of 5 or 3 μg of the BIV1‐CovIran vaccine and showed highly efficient protection against 10⁴ TCID50 of SARS‐CoV‐2 intratracheal challenge compared with the control group. These results highlight the BIV1‐CovIran vaccine as a potential candidate to induce a strong and potent immune response that may be a promising and feasible vaccine to protect against SARS‐CoV‐2 infection.

Dunaliella salina is a halotolerant microalga with high protein content. Until now, there was no report on biological properties of peptides prepared by enzymatic digestion of D. salina proteins. Therefore, antimicrobial and antiproliferative effects of the abundant protein of D. salina were investigated. The extracted proteins were separated by fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC), and protein hydrolysis was carried out with intestinal proteases such as trypsin and chymotrypsin. The antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities of the hydrolyzed peptides were examined on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Helicobacter pylori, and colon cancer cell lines, respectively. The results demonstrated that 63 kDa protein and its derived peptides caused a decrease in bacteria growth, and <3 kDa peptide fraction significantly reduced SW480 cell viability. Therefore, the peptide fractions with antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities are worthy of further investigation as functional food ingredients for health benefits.

Domestic, agricultural and industrial water activities lead to organic and inorganic pollution of the environment. Biotreatment of municipal wastewater with the potential production of biomass is a valuable feature of microalgae. In this study we evaluated the effects of wavelength and light intensity on phosphate and ammonium removal on the one hand, and biomass and protein production on the other hand by Spirulina platensis in municipal wastewater treatment under semi batch cultivation. S. platensis was inoculated at 40% in artificial wastewater open pond system. Red, blue and purple light with 3800, 4800 and 5800 lux light intensity under 12 hours light and 12 hours darkness were investigated. Cultivation was conducted in semi-batch conditions; after four days cultivation, one third of the culture was replaced with fresh medium. The highest biomass and protein concentrations were observed under blue light at 5800 lux light intensity, 5.45 and 3 g/l respectively cumulatively; while the highest amount of phosphate and ammonium removal were about 145 mg/l and 218 mg/l under purple light at 5800 lux intensity, respectively. The amounts of biomass and protein produced, as well as phosphate and ammonium removed, are therefore impacted by wavelength, light intensity, results show that light intensity and wavelength can be customized to reach on the one hand the highest biomass and protein production, and on the other hand to maximize the removal of phosphorous and ammonium.