Adjuvants• Chemical substance that can be added to a vaccine in order to

enhance the immune response to the vaccine.

Licensed Types of Adjuvants

1. Aluminum Hydroxide2. Aluminum Phosphate (Alum)3.MF59 – oil/water emulsion, biodegradable squalene oil (4.3%) stabilized by two non-ionic surfactants (Tween 80 and Span 85), and a low ionic strength citrate buffer4.AS04, 3-0-desacyl- 4'-monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) detoxified by mild hydrolytic treatment, alum absorbed

Aluminum Salts

Boosters• Periodic “booster”

administration strengthens and lengthens duration of immunity

Routes of Administration

• Intravenous • Intramuscular• Subcutaneous• Oral – liquids, foods• Intranasal

Reverse vaccinology

A comparisonConventional methods

o grow microbes in vitroo harvest microbial proteins that may

have the potential to produce a vaccine

o problem… many microbes are hard to cultivate in vitro

Reverse vaccinology methodso computer analyzes specific microbe genome

sequence to predict genes that code for surface proteins (possible vaccine)

o computers can examine multiple microbial genomes to look for homologous proteins to create more accurate predictions

o predicted genes are cloned into E. coli cultures for manufacturing of recombinant proteins – these are the potential vaccines

o proteins are extracted from the E. coli cultures and tested in mice for the immune response of interest

Conventional Vaccine Development

5 – 15 years

DNA recombinant technology

~ 6 months - 1 year

High Throughput GeneExpression

Reverse Vaccinology: Applying Genomics, Immunology & Engineering To

Rapidly Assess Vaccine Candidates