Rice-Ficht Receives $2.6 Million for Military Vaccine Delivery Project
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COMOIACommunicationsNews2007 News ArchiveRice-Ficht Receives $2.6 Million for Military Vaccine Delivery Project
Dr. Ficht and colleagues will be working on the two-year project with the Military Infectious Disease Research Program, which is a component of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. At the end of the study, Dr. Ficht hopes to have a prototype of the “pocket vaccine” ready for human testing.
“Our study focuses on creating an improved vaccine delivery system that enhances performance of vaccines,” Dr. Ficht said. “This system would make the vaccine stable at room temperature and suitable for oral consumption. These are two important factors which would allow the vaccine to be taken without medical personnel on site.”
When completed, the new vaccines (currently being designed for brucellosis and Q-fever) will allow military members to carry capsules in their pockets and take them orally in a crisis situation. While vaccines are immediately useful to military personnel, such products may also protect the general public in the future against deliberate release of harmful agents including bacteria, viruses and toxins.
The CMDD is a multidisciplinary faculty group from five colleges with the capability to design and test sustained delivery of vaccines and pharmaceuticals. Ongoing research includes basic and applied microencapsulation technologies for biomedical use, controlled release drug delivery systems, non-biomedical applications in nanotechnology, and microcapsule products for petrochemical, agricultural and environmental control industries. Associate members of the CMDD include researchers from other universities, industry and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
