New High-Throughput Immunogen-Screening Method Expected to Reduce Costs of Vaccine Development

A new high-throughput immunogen-screening method developed by VIDO will hopefully help reduce the costs associated with developing new vaccines.Researchers with the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization have developed a high-throughput immunogen-screening method to more efficiently identify immunogens that can be incorporated into vaccines.

Haoming Liu, a fourth year PhD student with VIDO, explains immunogens, be they proteins, sugars, or fats, help the immune system recognize and fight off infections.

Quote-Haoming Liu-Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization:

Proteins are the most common immunogens we focus on when developing a vaccine.In terms of veterinary medicine, when an animal recovers from an infection, these immunogens help the immune system remember the threat so, if the body encounters the same infection again, it responds quickly and powerfully, destroying the pathogen before it has a chance to grow.

Immunogens can be copied by genetic modification techniques in the lab and combined with special ingredients called adjuvants to create a type of vaccine called a recombinant subunit vaccine.They can also be converted into mRNA or DNA to develop mRNA or DNA vaccines.In addition, immunogens in a virus or bacteria are like the weak points of an opponent.

These immunogens are specific parts of a virus or bacteria.They trigger a stronger and more focussed immune response.This makes the immune system respond more precise compared to using the whole virus or bacteria which have many different proteins that distract the immune system.

Liu says the goal is to make vaccine development faster, more cost-effective and accessible for both the vaccine manufacturers and academic researchers.
He says, if this method works well, it will give researchers a more affordable way to identify immunogens.