SD NANOSCIENCES, INC — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: NIAID

Description

Vaccination is the most cost effective method for controlling and eradicating infectious diseasesIts significant impact on human health is exemplified by the eradication of smallpox and the elimination of poliomyelitis from most of the world and measles in many developed countriesWith the emergence of ceftriaxone resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeaeit is imperative that we generate a vaccine for this diseaseHowevergenerating vaccines against gonorrhea using traditional approaches has failed and novel strategies are neededThe hypothesis to be tested in this proposal is that cell surface componentsincorporated into or associated with negatively charged catanionic vesicles will reduce their toxicity while retaining their immunogenicity of these componentsand that immunization with these vesicles will be capable of inducing a protective immune responseWe will test this hypothesis by constructing a vaccine derived from Ngonorrhoeaecharacterize the elicited immune response using general principles of vaccine quality controland determine the safety of the vaccine and vaccine vehicle The emergence of ceftriaxone resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae has renewed interest in the potential for developing a vaccine that can prevent this diseaseWe will determine if a novel approach to vaccinationusing surfactant vesicles to deliver surface antigensis capable of eliciting a protective immune responseWe will characterize the elicited response to determine efficacy