I-Corps: Rapid Generation and Testing of Vaccine Candidates using Protein Nanoparticles

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project derives from its ability to potentially accelerate the process of discovery and manufacture of new vaccines and immunological therapies. These products contain several different components that act together to direct the immune response against a particular pathogen or disease. The technology developed here makes the assembly of these components a rapid and modular process, starting from a platform that naturally alerts the immune system to the presence of a molecular signature of infection. By speeding the construction of vaccine and immunotherapeutic candidates, we will make the overall discovery process faster and more effective, and the production process faster and less expensive. By shortening the time of discovery and manufacture, the pharmaceutical industry as a whole can be more responsive to emerging threats. The technology can also be potentially applied to immunotherapy against cancer and other diseases.This I-Corps project combines two core capabilities: the development of protein nanoparticles derived from viruses as platforms that stimulate the immune system toward molecules attached to them, and highly efficient chemical reactions that make attachments to the protein nanoparticles easy and scalable. Since the molecules that define different infectious agents or disease states can vary widely, such efficient connecting reactions are necessary to make the construction of vaccine candidates routine and modular. Research has defined the methods and linkages needed, and has validated the use of certain protein nanoparticles as effective immune-stimulating agents. Proofs of concept have been achieved for certain bacterial and parasitic infections, characterized by the display of unique sugar-like molecules on the surfaces of the infectious organisms. The combination of the flexibility of the approach, potentially applicable against a wide variety of diseases, and the ability to rapidly produce promising nanoparticle agents quickly and on large scale, makes the technology attractive for transition from the academic laboratory to potential commercial clinical application.