A VACCINE pioneer in Oxford will come face-to-face with her 'mortal enemy' today.

Professor Sarah Gilbert, lead developer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, is set to unveil a sculpture of the original Wuhan coronavirus particle on a scale eight million times its size at Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

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'2020: The Sphere that Changed the World' by Scottish artist Angela Palmer could be seen from today, after the re-opening of the museum, just two miles from the laboratories where Professor Gilbert and her team developed the vaccine.

Professor Gilbert said: "Angela's powerful and thought-provoking sculpture is a beautiful yet fragile representation of the virus that has become our mortal enemy."

A second work by Palmer called ‘The Spike’ – a representation of the virus' deadly protein spike – will also be part of the exhibition.