Vaccines & Immune Biology

To maintain stability and viability, most childhood vaccines must be kept cool - both heat and freezing can ruin them. That means they must be refrigerated at the correct temperature throughout transportation, storage, and delivery. This cold chain is difficult and costly to maintain, especially in developing countries. Dr.

The current vaccine against bacterial pneumonia (pneumococcus) requires a regimen of four injections given at specific intervals. In developing countries, this not only complicates the vaccination process for health workers and children, but it also is a serious obstacle for families who must travel long distances to the nearest health clinic. Dr.

Vaccinating infants against infectious disease is complicated by newborns' immature immune systems, the tendency of their immune systems to mount Th2-biased responses, and interference from maternal antibodies. Dr. Babiuk's team is working to develop new formulations of vaccines that can induce a long-lasting, balanced immune response in infants after a single­-administration vaccination.

If successful, this project on intranasal nicotine vaccine promises to aid in smoking cessation, and therefore has the potential of saving thousands of lives every year.

Cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer mortality among women, with more than 85% of the deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Effective commercial vaccines against cervical cancer exist but are expensive. These innovators, linked with McMaster University, will use microalgae to produce vaccines against cervical cancer that cost less than $1 CAD per dose.

Protected areas are critical to conservation, but they can result in worse health for adjacent communities. We will develop a mobile health system around Kibale National Park, Uganda. This will involve an ambulance travelling to communities around the park providing health care, family planning, health education, and promoting conservation.

In Africa, large populations of children fail to complete a vaccination schedule. Our system will integrate a portable biometric patient identification system and computerized medical records with a childhood vaccine reminder service. This service is also tied to caregiver medical records, SMS cell phone messaging, and provider database access; giving three unique points of contact.

In Bangladesh, immunization coverage among children living in rural hard-to-reach districts and urban streets remains low (42%-60%). Our research will produce a sustainable mechanism to use mobile phones to improve immunization coverage among children living in those areas. The research will provide an effective tool to register every birth electronically, and get locations to make sure that every undeserved child is vaccinated. Follow International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh on Twitter @icddr_b"

Stable vaccines without refrigeration is a holy grail of medical science. In resource-poor locations, vaccine refrigeration is difficult and expensive, contributing to 2.5 million deaths each year that could be prevented with diphtheria, tetanus, measles and other immunizations. Innovators behind this project have found that entrapping vaccines with a polymer allows vaccine viruses to be kept stable at room temperature for months.

Between 60–80 % of food in most developing countries is produced by women; thus, women play a critical role in household food security. Intensive pork production is key to sustained food security and it is therefore critical to address diseases that lead to reduced pork production. As men increasingly seek alternative employment in urban areas, raising of livestock for sale (e.g., pigs) has fallen to women.