By Collegian Staff
Hector Vega, who attended Morton College between 2007-2010, is currently employed by Entos Pharmaceuticals in Edmonton, Alberta. Entos is a biotechnology firm working to develop a coronavirus vaccine.
Hector Vega was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. For most of his time at Morton, he lived in Cicero, with a brief stint in Lyons. He was a member of the soccer team, a nursing student, but then transferred to the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he completed degrees in biochemistry and cell biology.
Later, Vega moved to Canada where he completed a master’s in biochemistry at the University of Alberta. In 2018, he was employed in Edmonton by Entos Pharmaceuticals. He now works as a protein biologist on a team assigned to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus.
“Morton College was very important to me,” said Vega. “Especially English 101 helped me to move forward. Now, we’re working very hard on [a vaccine.]”
According to John Lewis, CEO of Entos, “Once the…vaccine…has been produced it will undergo preclinical testing for safety and efficiency. Due to the urgent need for an effective vaccine for SARS-COV-2 Entos will move forward quickly to collaborate with appropriate health agencies, pharmaceutical companies and government partners to advance our novel Fusogenix vaccine to human clinical trials.”
Among those aiding them is a former Panther.
***
Photo provided by Hector Vega.
Read more about Entos’s efforts here.