2.1The Understanding Level of Rotavirus Vaccine

Although rotavirus is a common illness, we discovered that most people have little to no awareness of it in their daily lives. To confirm this, we set out to assess the public’s understanding of rotavirus, their knowledge and concerns regarding vaccines, and to predict their interest in the vaccine market by conducting an anonymous social survey.

In the questionnaire, we conducted two separate surveys based on the children's age groups, given that the primary demographic affected by rotavirus is children aged 0-5. We tailored the questionnaire for families with children in this age range to better understand this key group of potential users.

So far, we have received 586 samples. The respondents are mainly distributed among young and middle-aged people.

Figure 2

According to statistics, only 6.1% of people claim to have a good understanding of rotavirus, while we found that the vast majority come from their parents. 41.43% of people said they have only heard of it and do not understand it. More than the average interviewee said they had never heard of it.

Figure 3

To further understand the level of public awareness of rotavirus vaccines, we have refined a series of questions and found that the public lacks knowledge in this area. This triggered our team’s thinking, and we realized that education is an important step, laying the groundwork for future educational plans.

At the same time, we hope that these issues will stimulate public thinking and take this opportunity to call on society to pay attention to rotavirus.

Figure 4

In terms of understanding rotavirus vaccines, the understanding of the virus is similar to that of rotavirus. 4.43% of people said they knew very well, which is a very small proportion. 30.44% of people said they had heard of it but didn’t understand it, and 65.13% said they had never heard of it at all. Although the attention to second-class vaccines has continued to grow in recent years, so far, people’s awareness of this knowledge is still relatively low.

Figure 5

In a public survey, we conducted a research on which topics are most concerned about vaccines, in order to understand the most important concerns of the public regarding vaccines and to help us understand the preferences of the public in choosing vaccines.

In the table, we found that safety, side effects, and effectiveness are the most concerning issues for the public. This also helps us to better develop our products. In addition, we have found that price is also a matter of great concern to the public. So we also make price one of the key focuses of our research and development.

Figure 6

Due to our vague understanding of the channels through which the public usually obtains vaccine information, we designed a topic to understand their channels of obtaining information. Help us prepare for the next step of education and business.

In the table, we found that safety, side effects, and effectiveness are the most concerning issues for the public. This also helps us to better develop our products. In addition, we have found that price is also a matter of great concern to the public. So we also make price one of the key focuses of our research and development.

Figure 7

2.2 Product Direction

In order to better understand the public’s understanding and demand for rotavirus vaccine, we used questionnaire survey again to collect data. The network questionnaire survey can realize real-time data collection and analysis, so that we can better understand the practical application and improvement direction of the project in the Chinese market.

A total of 138 questionnaires were collected, of which 76.81% were women. Among them, 63.77% believed that there were insufficient rotavirus vaccines in the market. This shows that there is a public demand for a new rotavirus vaccine.

Figure 8

Secondly, 68.84% of people did not understand the types of strains covered by rotavirus vaccine, which can reflect that the public’s knowledge of rotavirus vaccine is not comprehensive and detailed, and we need to have popular science and publicity in this regard.

Figure 9

The way the public chooses to learn about the rotavirus vaccine is much more online. This provides a basis for our subsequent selection of publicity methods.

Figure 10

Finally, we get the price period of the product from the public, 65.22% of them want the price range of rotavirus vaccine to be between ¥0 and ¥200.

Figure 11

3.1 Interview with Child Care Doctor Dr. Pei Wu

3.1.1 Interview Process

To guarantee the precision and credibility of information regarding rotavirus vaccinations, we conducted an interview with Dr. Wu Pei, a distinguished expert in pediatric health. The dialogue facilitated our comprehension of the populace’s consciousness regarding vaccinations, the current repository of product information on rotavirus vaccines, and the prevailing promotional strategies. The insights gained are of invaluable importance.

Figure 12

Specifically, we have set five objectives to plan problem setting. The first is the current vaccination status of rotavirus vaccines for infants and young children.The second is the concerns of parents about rotavirus vaccines, the third is the advantages and disadvantages of several existing rotavirus vaccines, the fourth is the symptoms before and after clinical vaccination and improvement plans, and the fifth is the improvement suggestions for our experimental vaccine.The determination of these specific aspects helps us to better delve into the topic and obtain effective information, and also makes this interview more organized.More importantly, this interview has provided us with a clearer understanding of our own product positioning and a better understanding of future challenges and opportunities.

One focus of our survey was on parents’ concerns about vaccines. In this regard, Dr. Pei Wu has provided more effective information. According to Dr. Pei Wu, the current rotavirus vaccine has a good safety, and more parents are also concerned about how old their children can start vaccination. More specifically, parents want their children to be vaccinated as early as possible, because they want their children to develop immunity to the virus as early as possible and reduce the risk of illness. This encourages us to develop vaccines that can be administered earlier. At the same time, parents also want fewer doses of the vaccine, which will reduce the number of trips to the hospital and reduce transportation costs.

In addition, Dr. Wu Pei also mentioned a gratifying result at her hospital. Because Dr. Wu Pei’s hospital has set up a special group to educate mothers about the types and effects of vaccines, the vaccination rate of rotavirus vaccine in this hospital is extremely high, far exceeding the global average. It also suggests that we should strengthen the popularization of rotavirus and the importance of vaccination.

3.1.2 Conclusion

In this meeting, we had the opportunity to interview Ms. Wu Pei, an R&D expert specializing in rotavirus. Through our discussion, we gained a clearer understanding of the advantages and areas for improvement in our product compared to those currently on the market. Additionally, we learned key insights and knowledge about vaccine research and development, which are crucial for advancing our own product. Overall, this meeting provided us with valuable theoretical knowledge that will greatly aid in the future development and refinement of our vaccines. We are now more confident in our ability to devise solutions and address challenges as they arise.

3.2 Interview with Bio scientist Yicong Chen

3.2.1 Interview Process

In order to gain a deeper understanding of our developed products and make professional optimizations, we chose to interview senior expert Professor Chen Yicong. He graduated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences with a master’s degree and from the University of Munich, Germany with a doctor’s degree. His research interests include bio informatics, virology, etc. This excellent educational background and professional background that are highly relevant to our project have provided us with highly professional product optimization suggestions for this interview.

Figure 13

Figure 14

The purpose of our interview this time has become more informative, and the relevant suggestions for product development and production are extremely crucial. We have selected five main directions for setting questions, including the principle of action of rotavirus vaccine, the technical feasibility of this vaccine, scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of the product, the direction of product improvement, and the analysis of doubts encountered by our R&D department in the experiment. This greatly helped us analyze the weaknesses of the product and understand the feasibility of various ideas.

3.2.2 Conclusion

We interviewed Chen Yicong today, who holds a master’s degree from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. We conducted a question about his academic major. Firstly, we have gained an understanding of the principle of action of vaccines, which has also helped us develop some innovative ideas for our new vaccine. The feasibility of these ideas also includes the possibility of improving their effectiveness and safety. We also did not forget to ask him for his opinions on improving our product, and in the end, we received a very professional answer.

Now that the type of vaccine we are developing is an oligo-polyvalent collagen vaccine, we want to know more about the technical feasibility of this type of vaccine. We initially planned to design the vaccine as an injectable vaccine, but through preliminary surveys and interviews, we learned that liquid oral administration is commonly used on the market and is more suitable for infants and young children. Therefore, we are wondering whether it is possible to make the vaccine into a liquid oral vaccine through product modification. In this regard, Dr. Chen put forward a very comprehensive and objective opinion. First of all, he pointed out that if the main composition of collagen based on this vaccine is made into a liquid, the protein is likely to lose activity due to the human body’s digestion process, resulting in loss of function. In this regard, Dr. Chen provided three more complete solutions, nanocapsules, microcapsules, and plush coating. Each option has its own unique advantages. Nanocapsules and microcapsules can improve absorption efficiency, and the plush coating will not be destroyed by large intestinal tissue and eventually reach the small intestine. In addition, the capsules can be wrapped in sugar, making it more convenient for infants and young children to take them through the mouth.

In addition, we want to learn more about how to maximize product performance for oral pharmaceuticals. Dr. Chen also gave a wonderful perspective. He suggested that we add adjuvants, slowing agents, such as surfactants and absorption enhancers to the vaccine. In addition, according to our current understanding, antibodies in the human body are produced by recognizing proteins on the surface of the virus, so it is entirely conceivable to make a virus-free vaccine. However, the current market situation is completely opposite. Most of the vaccines currently on the market are attenuated, while few vaccines are avirulent. So we wondered why there had been so few collagen vaccines on the market before. To this end, Dr. Chen gave a detailed explanation. He said this was not directly related to technical difficulty. Compared with common strain vaccines on the market, the effectiveness of recombinant strain subunit vaccines is relatively low, which is a point that more people are considering. Because subunit vaccines only have protein components, there is no way to use DNA replication to work in large quantities in the body. In this regard, Dr. Chen suggested that we delve into methods to improve effectiveness while ensuring safety, which gave us a lot of inspiration.

3.2.3 Reflection

In short, this interview has provided us with a judgment on the feasibility of our planned innovation, that is, whether our ideas can be truly implemented in vaccine production, and has also provided valuable methods for the specific implementation of vaccine testing and development innovation.

3.3 Interview with Fund Manager Jin Ge

3.3.1 Interview Process

As a newly gathered team, we sometimes get into a cognitive impairment about how to get investment, because we are only standing in our own feet, instead of looking at thing in others’ perspective. This is also what we are lack of right now. Thus, we interview Mr Ge Jin, who is an fund manager and also an expert in investment. Through our engagement with Mr. Ge Jin, we hope to think in the viewpoint of the investor to further update our business planning.

There are two major objectives in our interview this time. Our primary goal to know what investors want to see in the financing planning. In addition, we expect to get advice upon distribution of profits between R&D companies and real publishing companies.

Figure 15

Figure 16

Figure 17

First, we asked Mr. Jin about his insightful view of our financing planning. He pointed out several key elements we need to focus on in order to attract the investors. In detail, he suggested us deeper research on the China market situation of the vaccine market to see whether there is already any existing monopoly player. According to our online research, despite the seven institutes, there are also plenty of other institutes like private enterprises and foreign companies. Overall, there is no monopoly situation in the Chinese vaccine market, and thus it is possible for new players to enter. Additionally, he wants us to research the market of vaccine in China to make sure the year on year growth rate is more than 20%. According to our later research, the CAGR is up to 33.09% from 2016 to 2020, possibly meeting the expectation of our potential investors. In this way, investors may feel confident about the industry we enter as a new player, and are willing to invest our product. Specifically, he advised us to focus on analyzing our product’s unique advantage in compare to the existing products in the market. Regarding the customers’ acceptance of our product, he suggested us conducting surveys in the hospitals to gain insights about customers’ attitudes towards our innovative vaccine product.

Secondly, he offered us some thoughts upon the distribution of profits between us and the real publishing companies. There are 3 main points he offered us. The first one is to buy out R&D expenses, and all subsequent profits and promotion belong to the issuing company. Another way is to cooperate with the issuing company to carry out promotion together in a long term, and divide the profit gained at a certain ratio. The third way is to do the bet-based promotion, meaning that we can distribute our vaccines in many channels. In detail, the commission rebate will be lower before reaching a certain sales volume, and a higher share method will be used after exceeding it.

3.3.2 Reflection

Overall, throughout the journey of our engagement with Mr. Jin, we gained enormous insight about how to attract investment from the most objective viewpoint--the investor’s view. Together with the precious lessons, we are more armed to prepare our planning onto the real practice.

3.4 Interview with Mommy Blogger Teacher Zhong

3.4.1Interview Process

In order to conduct more in-depth market research, we approached a baby mother named Teacher Zhong to understand consumers’ views on viral vaccines and their expectations for our newly developed rotavirus vaccine.This opportunity has given us a better understanding of the needs and opinions of the consumer group, and has also roughly clarified the optimization we need in product design.

Figure 18

Figure 19

The purpose of this extraordinary interview is to gain a deeper understanding of consumers’ knowledge, preferences, and expectations for vaccine products in the future. We have set many specific questions based on this to obtain the final answer.As a senior mother, Teacher Zhong pays more attention to the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, which enables us to accurately understand the needs of consumers, thus providing better basis and enhancing our competitive advantage in promotion and advertising.

3.4.2 Conclusion

In this interview, we interviewed Ms. Zhou, a parent of an infant, and learned about how our own vaccine should be improved. Driven by our new consciousness, we hope that more infants and young children can better prevent rotavirus. At the same time, we also gained a clearer understanding of the market situation, which provided us with many reference materials for our subsequent vaccine improvements. In short, our interview has been proven to be a crucial event for product innovation and improvement. Based on the in-depth understanding of the market situation, customer preferences, and environmental factors obtained from this interview, we have the ability to provide solutions that do not meet market demands while improving innovation.

3.5 Interview with the founder of Biological company Yunhua Kong

In our journey towards becoming a qualified start-up company, we seek for experience in getting prepared for all process of establishing our medical company. Mr. Yunhua Kong, as the vice president of research and cofounder of Suzhou Wingtech Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd., has great experience in the company establishing process and offered us enormous insights into the world of pharmaceutical company founding.

Figure 20

Figure 21

Our primary objectives for this interview consists of 3 parts. Firstly, we want to know how a startup pharmaceutical company secure their first round of investment. Furthermore, we want to explore the suggestions on time advancement at various stages for start-up pharmaceutical companies. During the stage of starting-up, we will inevitably meet a lot of risks and problems, and thus we seek for hearing the experience and advice from Mr Kong to gain more knowledge and more prepared in addressing the problems.

Firstly and most importantly, as a small group that just had preliminary research and experiment findings, it is extremely hard to have access to the first-round financing. Mr Kong, experienced in business start-up, taught us that we should dig out what our vaccines’ advantages are in compare to those that currently prevail in the market. Also, we should quickly find an outsourcing company to cooperate with in order to lower down the cost of our product using massive production. In this way, with a lower cost, the more customers will be willing to purchase our vaccines, and thus the more likely our first-round financing can work.

Secondly, we also concern about the the further development of the new company, which was addressed by Mr. Kong precisely. For the product selling part, he pointed out that we need to put the speed of releasing our product in the first place of our consideration. With the early release of our product, we are more advantageous in attracting the customers while other companies did not come up with their innovative products yet.

Thirdly, Mr. Kong also told us how we can lower down our risk in the establishing stage. In detail, he suggested us to cooperate with a mature platform. Also, significantly, we should experiment regularly aiming at different subjects to test our stability and security. Moreover, he said, it would be better for us in the starting-up stage if we find a risk consultant, who can analyse our company’s situation objectively and make scientific judgement.

In summary, during our interview with Mr. Kong, we gain plenty of precious experience of starting up a company. In addition, Mr Kong is a guide who light up our way towards a mature research planning.

4.1 Visit the Medical Pathogen Museum

The Pathogen Biology Science Museum is located at Fudan University in Shanghai. It includes various exhibition forms such as posters, graphic and textual display boards, models, and specimens, comprehensively showcasing the diversity of pathogenic organisms and related scientific knowledge.

Figure 22

At the same time, it also records the outstanding contributions of several outstanding scientists in this field. Because it is highly relevant to our research topic, we chose this place.

Of course, our main purpose for this trip is to enrich our learning experience through on-site visits. This provides us with a more comprehensive understanding of rotavirus. This form is also more interesting and leaves a deep impression on us. Before visiting, we learned about the basic information of the Pathogenic Biology Science Museum through online information, such as the creation time, original intention, and exhibition format.

Of course, our main purpose for this trip is to enrich our learning experience through on-site visits. This provides us with a more comprehensive understanding of rotavirus. This form is also more interesting and leaves a deep impression on us. Before visiting, we learned about the basic information of the Pathogenic Biology Science Museum through online information, such as the creation time, original intention, and exhibition format.

Figure 24

In the subsequent exhibition, we obtained most of the answers, which provided a more accurate positioning for the diagnosis of viral infections, prevention and control measures for viral diseases, and so on. This has laid a solid foundation for our future promotion.

5.1 Activity Process

To ensure that our advocacy efforts align with the expectations and needs of the residents, we employ a multifaceted approach to community engagement, including comprehensive community surveys and targeted public outreach initiatives. Initially, we conducted two comprehensive questionnaires regarding rotavirus, which were disseminated online and garnered a vast array of responses, thus providing us with insights into the varying perceptions and opinions across different segments of society concerning our focal point. This has enabled us to refine our approach, bridging the gap between our initiatives and the general public, with a focus on practical and impactful publicity strategies

5.2 Reflection

To ensure that our advocacy efforts align with the expectations and needs of the residents, we employ a multifaceted approach to community engagement, including comprehensive community surveys and targeted public outreach initiatives. Initially, we conducted two comprehensive questionnaires regarding rotavirus, which were disseminated online and garnered a vast array of responses, thus providing us with insights into the varying perceptions and opinions across different segments of society concerning our focal point. This has enabled us to refine our approach, bridging the gap between our initiatives and the general public, with a focus on practical and impactful publicity strategies.

Moreover, as we planned our future initiatives—including the creation of science communication videos for social media and the launch of online educational lectures—I found myself more committed than ever to the project. These upcoming endeavors have not only strengthened my sense of purpose within the team but have also sparked new ideas for broadening our impact. Engaging with diverse age groups and organizational networks has inspired me to think more creatively about how we can make a lasting difference in public health education.

We learned through questionnaire survey that the public has little knowledge about rotavirus and its vaccines. So we will popularize relevant knowledge to the public in educational activities. In order to let more people to understand our topic and knowledge of rotavirus, we would provide educational activities to different age groups people including children, middle school students, and adults. We would explain the knowledge, harm, and advantages of rotavirus with different difficulty. We would provide a detailed description in the Education section: https://2024.igem.wiki/subcat-union/education.

Through expert interviews, we made further improvements to our product direction. We have identified target customer groups, including infants and young children, parents, medical structures, etc. We have also improved the product design based on the IHP interview, and we would provide detailed information in the entrepreneurship part: https://2024.igem.wiki/subcat-union/entrepreneurship.

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