Balaji Narasimhan directs the Nanovaccine Institute based at Iowa State University. The institute is looking for new and better ways to prevent disease, including influenza and cancers. Nanovaccines, unlike current vaccines, are based on tiny particles that can send pathogen-like signals to immune cells. They can prevent disease. They can boost the immune system’s own response to disease. Production is quick. Storage is easy. And the technology is sustainable. “This is truly one of the dream teams working on vaccine research anywhere in the world,” Narasimhan said.
Iowa State researchers affiliated with the Nanovaccine Institute have explained how a nanomaterial initiates antibody production by the immune system's B cells. The technique could be used to turn B cells into factories that provide antibodies for diagnostic tests or treatments.
22-Sep-2021 08:00:20 AM EDT
The state of Iowa has designated $2 million in federal CARES Act funding to support university research and development of a nanovaccine to protect against COVID-19 infections. Researchers at Iowa State University and the University of Iowa will work together on a needle-free, single-dose nanovaccine.
03-Nov-2020 03:30:12 PM EST
A research team led by Iowa State's Balaji Narasimhan and affiliated with the Nanovcaccine Institute based at Iowa State is studying nanovaccines for treating pancreatic cancer. The study is supported by a $2.67 million grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
28-Jun-2018 04:05:46 PM EDT
“The diseases we have vaccines for today are the low-hanging fruit. And so people get sick. But we can’t just keep treating these new and re-emerging diseases. That’s too expensive. We have to prevent them.”
- Researchers developing, testing nanovaccine to protect against the flu virus