SBIR Phase II:A Novel Bacteriophage Mutant as a Platform Carrier for Next Generation Vaccines

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the contribution to the field of conjugate vaccines, which have made revolutionary and tremendous contributions to public health. When successfully developed, the proposed platform will be available for use by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to develop next-generation conjugate vaccines against a wide range of antigens, including cancer and emerging infectious diseases, for improved clinical outcomes. In addition to vaccines, the platform offers an excellent starting point for the generation of monoclonal antibodies for both basic scientific research and therapeutic application.This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project aims to establish the applicability, robust manufacturing and characterization protocols of a proposed mutant bacteriophage based carrier platform.This work will establish superior and long-lasting antibody response against weakly immunogenic subunit antigens, while reducing the anti-carrier antibody responses. This project will advance the demonstration of the proposed platform's performance in boosting the immune responses against the target antigens, relative to that of the wild-type bacteriophage and commercially available carrier proteins.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.