Owen DONOHOE | Super-Vaccine

Exploring the potential applications of live viral vaccine encoded small-hairpin-RNAs in improving both vaccine safety and efficacy through RNA-interference and stimulation of the innate immune system.

L

ive vaccines represent one of the most important and effective interventions against the spread of viral disease. As such, they are instrumental in addressing ongoing societal challenges in areas such as healthcare and global food security. However, their capacity to genetically recombine with wild type (WT) viruses circulating in the field remains a primary safety concern. Modifying live vaccine strains to reduce such occurrences would be highly desirable from a safety perspective. Also efforts to enhance the intrinsic potency of vaccine strains would be very beneficial. This would facilitate the use of much lower doses, while reducing the manufacturing resources required to meet market needs and the cost of vaccination programs.
With this in mind, this project will explore a novel strategy to improve both the safety and efficacy of live viral vaccine strains by modifying them to express small-hairpin-RNAs (shRNAs).

Contacts : Alain VANDERPLASSCHEN