{"id":158030,"date":"2024-12-03T17:09:57","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T22:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/?p=158030"},"modified":"2024-12-03T17:16:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T22:16:07","slug":"designing-a-vaccine-that-helps-the-most-vulnerable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/2024\/12\/03\/designing-a-vaccine-that-helps-the-most-vulnerable\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing a Vaccine That Helps the Most Vulnerable"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Hartwell funds, Teplensky aims for a more potent shot against Streptococcus pneumoniae<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Patrick L. Kennedy<\/strong><\/p>\n

While it doesn\u2019t garner the headlines of other infectious respiratory diseases, pneumonia routinely sends kids to the hospital, especially children with compromised immune systems. And pneumonia is just one of the life-threatening diseases (along with meningitis and others) caused by the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae <\/span><\/em>(Spn<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Vaccines exist that target Spn<\/em>, but they struggle to protect against all the variants of the bacteria that emerge, and they <\/span>can <\/span>require <\/span>a four-vaccine series for substantial potency<\/span>. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge amount of room for improvement,\u201d says Assistant <\/span>Professor Michelle Teplensky<\/a> (BME<\/a>, MSE<\/a>).<\/p>\n

With an award from the Hartwell Foundation, Teplensky and colleagues are working on a new way to design a more powerful, versatile, and enduring Spn <\/em>vaccine, protecting vulnerable <\/span>children with just one shot.<\/p>\n

A panoply of parameters<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Every vaccine consists of two elements, Teplensky explains: a stimulator, which turns on an immune response; and a target\u2014for example, a shred of dead virus or bacteria\u2014which tells the immune system what to go after.<\/p>\n

Both of those elements are subject to untold numbers of variables\u2014their precise size and shape, the kind of target, how they are released, and more. Those parameters affect a vaccine\u2019s reception in the body, Teplensky says, which might explain the disappointing success rate of various<\/span> current <\/span>vaccines: \u201cNo one takes all of these factors into consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if the stimulator and target cues are highly variable, Teplensky believes\u2014and her recent work shows\u2014that also means they\u2019re tunable.<\/p>\n

Broader target, stronger shot<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cWhat this project is all about is changing how we deliver those cues to an immune cell so that we can maximize that vaccine\u2019s potency,\u201d Teplensky says.<\/p>\n

Using chemistry and nanotechnology, Teplensky and colleagues are creating synthetic DNA with novel shapes and structures. \u201cWe can make it 100 nanometers large or five nanometers large,\u201d she says. \u201cWe can change all aspects of its appearance and structure.\u201d Ultimately, the team aims to deliver <\/span>a target that trains<\/span> the immune system to react to a broader range of real Spn <\/em>bacteria down the road. This idea of a <\/span>\u201c<\/span>pan-Spn<\/em><\/span>\u201d<\/span> response is a more sustainable long-term strategy to <\/span>cover a broad spectrum of <\/span>known and unknown <\/span>serotypes (variants)<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

That one versatile vaccine will mean fewer trips to the clinic for harried parents of babies and toddlers. \u201cThe current Spn <\/em>regimen is up to something like four shots starting at an age of <\/span>two months,\u201d says Teplensky. \u201cIt becomes a little arduous. T<\/span>he goal of this work is to create a more potent and broad <\/span>response with a single injection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combining expertise to find a solution<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Teplensky\u2019s collaborators include Professor of Medicine Joseph Mizgerd of the BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Director of the BU Pulmonary Center, <\/span>as well as a clinical partner,<\/span> Dr. Richard Malley, <\/span>at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital. \u201cWhat my lab does is very much at the intersection of so many fields, including immunology and biomedical engineering as well as chemistry and nanotechnology, <\/span>and this enables us to work with those at the forefronts of <\/span>the <\/span>disease biology and clinical interaction<\/span>,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of the values of our lab to think about the end user,\u201d adds Teplensky. In this case, that means the very young\u2014who are more inclined to get sick under the best of circumstances\u2014and in particular immuno-compromised kids, who need this help the most. \u201cI don\u2019t think it gets more meaningful than helping children who are vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The goal is to create a more potent and broad response with a single injection.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2662,"featured_media":128690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[236,257,899,909,1220],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158030"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158042,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158030\/revisions\/158042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}