Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

Duke receives Gates Foundation grant for HIV vaccine study

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a new grant to Duke University Medical Center for work developing vaccines that can induce IgA antibodies for preventing HIV-1 infection. This award comes from the Gates' Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery (CAVD) program.

19 Jul 2012

CSIRO to produce antibodies for development of new vaccines against rotavirus

CSIRO has been contracted by PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) to produce antibodies on a large scale that will aid the development of new, safe, affordable and effective vaccines against rotavirus, a major cause of severe and fatal diarrhoea in young children worldwide.

18 Jul 2012

Vaccination more reliable than observation for bovine herpesvirus

Vaccination halts the circulation of bovine herpesvirus type 1 in dairy herds and should been seen as the best way to eradicate the virus, despite it disappearing without intervention in some herds after long periods, report researchers in the Veterinary Record.

18 Jul 2012

Combination prevention strategy trials to start later this year in Africa, GlobalPost reports

As part of its "AIDS Turning Point" series, GlobalPost examines how the United States and its African partners are designing clinical trials at four African sites to test whether a combination of prevention methods and strategies -- "notably the vaccine-like preventative effect on transmission when someone starts taking AIDS drugs, as well as the life-long protection afforded to many due to male circumcision" -- could "put them on the road to a Holy Grail: the numbers of HIV infections tumbling down."

18 Jul 2012

Researchers uncover mechanism by which aging may weaken immune response

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have uncovered one of the mechanisms by which aging may compromise the ability of the immune system to fight infections and respond to vaccines.

18 Jul 2012

Johnson & Johnson second quarter sales decrease 0.7% to $16.5B

Johnson & Johnson today announced sales of $16.5 billion for the second quarter of 2012, a decrease of 0.7% as compared to the second quarter of 2011. Operational results increased 3.5% and the negative impact of currency was 4.2%.

17 Jul 2012

Duke University to receive CHAVI-Immunogen Discovery grant for effective HIV vaccine

A large federal grant awarded to Duke University will fund a highly focused program to discover how to induce the precise immune factors needed for effective vaccines against HIV.

17 Jul 2012

Helper T cells may be frontline warriors when battling hepatitis A infection

Helper cells traditionally thought to only assist killer white blood cells may be the frontline warriors when battling hepatitis A infection. These are the findings from a Nationwide Children's Hospital study appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

17 Jul 2012

Drug treatments, scientific advances fuel hope for HIV control as AIDS 2012 conference draws near

"A cure for AIDS remains a distant prospect but a host of drug treatments and other advances have fueled fresh hope that new HIV infections may someday be halted for good," Agence France-Presse reports.

17 Jul 2012

Scientists discover new way to convert cord blood cells into iNC

For more than 20 years, doctors have been using cells from blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after childbirth to treat a variety of illnesses, from cancer and immune disorders to blood and metabolic diseases.

17 Jul 2012

Gates Foundation's efforts to improve access to contraceptives will improve health, lives of women, children

"Supporters of women's health ought to cheer the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's plan" to provide $1 billion over eight years to increasing women's access to contraceptives and family planning services because the "effort underscores the critical role of family planning in the international battle to reduce poverty and improve maternal health," a Seattle Times editorial states.

17 Jul 2012

Pakistan polio immunization campaign might not reach 240,000 children because of militant leaders' bans on vaccine

A national polio vaccination campaign set to begin this week in Pakistan might not reach 240,000 children in the northwest because of a Taliban ban on the inoculations, Agence France-Presse reports. Local militant leaders "have banned polio vaccinations in the northwestern tribal region of Waziristan to protest against U.S. drone attacks" and "have condemned the immunization campaign, which is slated to begin on Monday, as a cover for espionage," the news agency writes.

17 Jul 2012

New CD141hi DC subset plays a critical role in activating immune response against pathogens

Scientists at A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), in collaboration with Newcastle University, UK, the Singapore Institute of Clinical Sciences and clinicians from multiple hospitals in Singapore, have identified a new subset of dendritic cells (DCs) in human peripheral tissue which have a critical role in activating our immune response against harmful pathogens.

17 Jul 2012

Polio eradication: an interview with Dr. Kathleen O’Reilly

Polio is a disease caused by a virus and results in paralysis, usually in the legs, of those affected. The paralysis is irreversible. In some extreme cases the virus spreads to the nerve cells of the brain reducing breathing capacity and this rarer form can be fatal.

16 Jul 2012

Researchers discover HVEM’s unknown role in fighting off E. coli infections

Despite ongoing public health efforts, E. coli outbreaks continue to infiltrate the food supply, annually causing significant sickness and death throughout the world. But the research community is gaining ground. In a major finding, published today in the scientific journal Nature, researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have discovered a molecule's previously unknown role in fighting off E. coli and other bacterial infections, a discovery that could lead to new ways to protect people from these dangerous microorganisms.

16 Jul 2012

Johns Hopkins doctoral program graduate explores ways to control infectious diseases

Her passport is stamped with exotic locations: Myanmar, Tibet, South Africa, Vietnam, and Cambodia, as well as Baltimore, MD. But, when Carrie Tudor, PhD, MPH, RN, looks at it, she sees global battlefields in the fight against infectious disease. Her weapons: immunizations, programs to curb tuberculosis and HIV transmission, and a drive to carry on a rich tradition of public health nursing research.

16 Jul 2012