Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects

Common ""killed"" microbe vaccines such as hepatitis vaccine, must be given repeatedly to be effective. Influenza vaccinemust be given yearly. This is costly and inconvenient. In recent work we have shown that vaccines can be incorporated intodissolving spheres that release bursts of vaccine in the skin at timed intervals. We will use this system to obtain the sameeffect as repeated administration, but with a single administration. The spheres will be delivered into the skin painlesslyusing new microscopic hollow needles that allow painless administration. We plan to optimize this new method ofvaccination by combining the skills of an immunologist, a pharmacy scientist, a mechanical engineer and a clinicalvaccinologist. The projected advantages of this new vaccine system are lowered cost, pain free administration, andincreased efficacy