Date Time COVID-19 toolkit to boost vaccine development and research Microscopy image of the fluorescent SARS-CoV-2 virus (in pink) engineered by Griffith University and University of Tartu researchers showing infected cells. An international collaboration of researchers from Griffith University’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland, the University of Tartu, the University of Glasgow and the University of Dundee have developed a COVID-19 laboratory research toolkit for sharing with researchers across the globe. Designed to expedite SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development, drug discovery and fundamental research, particularly in laboratories unaccustomed to working with coronaviruses, the toolkit includes: DNA-launched, single plasmid SARS-CoV-2 reverse genetics system, derived from the original Wuhan-Hu-1 isolate. This genetic tool will allow researchers to make synthetic infectious coronaviruses using a specially constructed DNA plasmid that can be grown in bacteria and then used to make viruses in cultured mammalian cells. It will allow researchers to easily manipulate the coronavirus genome and permit the study of individual SARS-CoV-2 mutations or combinations of mutation, such as those found in the new variants.