Vaccines

Vaccines are low-cost, high-impact interventions that have vastly improved human health by preventing or mitigating many common infections. The rapid development of highly effective vaccines for COVID-19 demonstrated the importance of investment in vaccine technologies that are straightforward to produce and readily adaptable to different diseases. Over many years, the Institute for Protein Design at UW Medicine has developed self-assembling protein nanoparticles that can be modified to include a wide variety of protein antigens. These nanoparticles can serve as a vaccine platforms, eliciting protective immune responses against diseases from RSV to COVID-19. Protein nanoparticle vaccines are designed to be safe, effective, simple to produce, and stable without freezing. Translational investigators within the ITI will collaborate on new iterations of nanoparticle vaccines, drawing on the resources of the Protein Design hub for conception, production and analysis and partnering with the Immunology and Clinical Studies hubs for validation.