ABU DHABI — Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH) in London is set to play a crucial role in a new study exploring the possibility of running the first human challenge study to find a vaccine for COVID-19. As part of the UK government’s strategic pandemic response, plans for the world’s first human challenge study in COVID-19 has been announced Tuesday by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which is funding it through the Vaccines Taskforce with a ₤33.6m investment. Human challenge studies offer a faster way to test vaccines than more traditional clinical trials, which could be crucial to evaluating COVID-19 vaccines when they are developed. This human challenge study will recruit healthy adult volunteers aged 18-30 and infect them with the COVID-19 virus via their nose. The manufacturing of the virus will take place at GOSH in the brand-new facilities in Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children in London. The center is the largest single academic manufacturing unit for gene and cell therapies in the UK and one of the largest in the world. Researchers will then use small doses of the manufactured virus to find the smallest possible amount that can cause an infection of COVID-19. Volunteers will stay in a special unit at the Royal Free Hospital where they will be closely monitored. If this first part of the study — known as virus characterization study — is a success, researchers may then be able to test if COVID-19 vaccines that are currently being developed could prevent the infection. The research is a partnership between the UK government, Imperial College London, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and hVIVO, a leading clinical company with significant experience in human challenge models for viruses. Mat Shaw, chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital said; Never has research been more important than now. GOSH’s commitment to research coupled with the world-class facilities in our Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children mean that we can play our part in this important study. The Zayed Centre for Research opened to patients in October 2019 and the center brings together pioneering research and clinical care under one roof that will help to drive forward new treatments and cures for seriously ill children from across the UK and international patients. It was made possible thanks to a transformative ₤60 million gift from Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, chairwoman of the General Women's Union, president of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and supreme chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation, in 2014. Major contributions were also made by Research England, The Wolfson Foundation, John Connolly & Odile Griffith and the Mead Family Foundation. The centre is a partnership between Great Ormond Street Hospital, UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. — WAM