NEWSLETTER
Vaccines On-Demand (Wouldn’t that be nice?)
Cell Crunch (Issue 2021.02.08)
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On-Demand Vaccines for Bacterial Infections: A new study, published in Science Advances, describes a method to produce conjugate vaccines — which are used to prevent some of the leading causes of vaccine-preventable deaths, according to the World Health Organization — using ground up, freeze-dried bacteria. E. coli bacteria were first engineered to produce an antigen for a pathogenic microbe of choice. Then, the researchers ripped open the cells and added in a piece of DNA encoding a carrier protein, which attaches to those antigens and helps display them to the immune system. The team turned the whole mixture into a powder that could be transported and stored at room temperature. Then, to make a dose of vaccine, they just add water. The freeze-dried tube produces the vaccine, on demand, in about one hour. As a proof of concept, the researchers manufactured vaccines that protected mice against a disease-causing bacteria, Francisella tularensis. The work was authored by researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Why It Matters: Most vaccines need to be stored at cold temperatures. This makes…
