Principal investigator Lijuan Yuan, professor of virology and immunology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, has secured a new contract research project from CureVac, which will allow the development of a next-generation mRNA-based vaccine to combat rotavirus infections.

TITLE
Evaluation of RNActive-based rotavirus vaccine in the gnotobiotic pig model of human rotavirus infection and diarrhea

FUNDING AGENCY

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) / National Institutes of Health (NIH)

TOTAL AWARD
$339,250

Direct: $295,000
Indirect: $44,250

DURATION OF AWARD
11/1/2020 - 7/31/2021

KEY FACULTY PERSONNEL
PI: Lijuan Yuan

SIGNFICANCE
Even with availability of the current live oral vaccines, rotaviruses still cause ~200,000 deaths, millions of hospitalizations, and huge economic loss every year. There is still a need for next-generation, improved rotavirus vaccines. The mRNA vaccine platform has demonstrated its utility and advantages in safety and effectiveness in the two front-runner vaccines against the current novel coronavirus pandemic. In this project, the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of two candidate trivalent mRNA rotavirus vaccines developed using RNActive platform by CureVac, Germany, will be evaluated in comparison with the PATH trivalent recombinant protein vaccine P2-VP8* in the gnotobiotic pig model of human rotavirus infection and disease.