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$5.4 Million NIH Grant Will Fund Study of a Universal Vaccine for Flu

ALBANY, N.Y., June 24, 2008 - Albany Medical College has been awarded a $5.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to explore the development of a “universal” vaccine for flu, including avian flu, that would protect individuals from all forms of influenza, regardless of the latest strain or mutation. The research team is headed by Deborah Fuller, Ph.D., associate professor in the Center for Immunology and Microbial Disease at the Medical College.

“This, on top of numerous grants including an earlier $8.3 million NIH grant to study biodefense tularemia vaccine development, further solidifies our Center for Immunology and Microbial Disease’s reputation as a leader in vaccine research,” said Vincent Verdile, M.D., Albany Medical College dean. “More importantly, it promises significant scientific advancements in order to better protect the population from the significant threat of pandemic flu.”

Three key concepts are behind the work. The first is to develop a DNA vaccine that will activate both arms of the body’s defenses. Current conventional vaccines activate the body’s antibody response, which tries to stop an invading virus before it can get inside the body’s cells. By contrast, a DNA vaccine also activates the T-cell response, which identifies cells in the body that have been infected and shuts them down before more viruses can be replicated.
 
The second concept of the universal vaccine is that it will activate immune response in the lungs, which is the first site of exposure for the flu virus. Conventional vaccines work in the blood, but this would work in both the lungs and the blood.

And, the team will use computer modeling to predict changes that can be made in the sequence of the vaccine to make it more effective.

In addition, the team is working with PowderMed, an Oxford, U.K., company that has developed a needle-free method of delivering vaccines into the skin, which Fuller says produces a much higher level of protective response than injection into the muscle beneath the skin. She says another advantage of this technology is that the vaccines are dry and can be stored at room temperature.

The work on the new vaccine has just begun, but one to three generations of the vaccine are projected to be ready for initial clinical trials in five years. According to Fuller, if this approach to vaccinating against rapidly mutating viruses performs as expected, it has the potential to be applied to other rapidly mutating viruses such as HIV.

The work is being done in collaboration with key investigators at the University of Pittsburgh that include Michael Murphey-Corb, Ph.D., Todd Reinhart, Ph.D., Julius Youngner, Ph.D., Patricia Whittaker-Dowling, Ph.D., and Doug Reed, Ph.D. Also collaborating will be Jose Guevara-Patino, Ph.D., at the University of Chicago.

Albany Med’s vaccine research programs, led by Dennis Metzger, Ph.D., professor, Theobald Smith Alumni Chair and director of the Center for Immunology and Microbial Disease, are funded by grants in excess of $20 million. Scientists are studying better vaccines for several diseases including tularemia, plague, Lyme disease, childhood bacterial infections, HIV/AIDS, flu, and other pathogens.

Albany Medical Center is northeastern New York’s only academic health sciences center. It consists of Albany Medical College, Albany Medical Center Hospital and the Albany Medical Center Foundation, Inc. Additional information about Albany Medical Center can be found at www.amc.edu.
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