Which up and coming vaccine technologies do you think show the most promise?
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Company: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Job Title: Author, Chief of the Division of Infectious, and Director of the Vaccine Education Center
Answer
My fantasy vaccine technology would be microencapsulation. There is no reason why all vaccines couldn’t be given by mouth. This would address the most common concern parents have: painful injections. Microcapsules could be constructed to survive the acid-protease environment of the mouth and stomach and be made in such a way that antigen release could occur in the small intestine, which is a rich source of B cells, T cells, and antigen presenting cells. Also, microcapsules could be targeted to specific antigen-presenting cells depending on the type of immune response desired.
The problem is that this would be a lot of work and there is very little financial incentive to do it. But as long as we’re dreaming, this is mine