JERUSALEM, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers are working on developing a vaccine to deal with the novel coronavirus, Bar Ilan University (BIU) in central Israel said in a statement published Sunday.

(File photo: VCG)

It said BIU scientists are developing a system of harmless viruses, containing various components such as the coronavirus envelope protein, to test their response to substances and the efficacy of vaccines against the virus.

The research is carried out in collaboration with a Swedish pharmaceutical company that manufactures vaccines.

The scientists explained that for safety reasons, their lab does not work on the entire coronavirus but a different virus containing parts of the virus.

"In the past two months, articles have been published that detail the complete genome sequence of the coronavirus, so today, we can use this information to produce a system based on parts of the virus", the researchers added.

Besides the vaccine development, the BIU research also contributes to understanding factors that inhibit infection.

The system simulating coronavirus can infect lung cells susceptible to the virus and examine the response to new drugs and the effectiveness of drugs that have already been used against other strains of the virus.