Grant: Vaccines of the 21st Century

Current vaccine technologies are inadequate to counter the threat posed by existing and emerging infectious agents. This is due in part to the limited ability of current vaccines to induce effective cellular immune responses, the short duration of immune responses and the limited responses of some individuals. We have shown that chemicals called adjuvants can be applied to the skin at the time of vaccination to immprove vaccine responses. In this proposal, we seek to create more stable and effective chemicals for topical application, and to explore new ways in which to deliver these chemicals painlessly through the skin.