Our Focus: Immunology, Bioengineering Technologies, and Health

Pulmonary Immunity

The human lung is continuously exposed to environmental and microbial antigens - both innocuous and pathogenic. Consequently, respiratory tract infections remain a leading cause of death globally. Most licensed vaccines are administered by injection and protect the host exclusively via induction of antibody responses in the blood, but they require multiple immunizations to maintain protective immunity and they do neither induce cell mediated (Th1 and CD8+ T cells) nor mucosal immunity. Thus, a major challenge of pulmonary vaccinology is to develop an approach that can provide long-lasting and durable immunity in the lungs. Mucosal vaccines have demonstrated remarkable efficacy, providing tissue-specific responses and protection across distant mucosa for improved barrier protection. However, development of effective vaccines inducing pulmonary immunity remains elusive, owing to a lack of mucosal adjuvants capable of delivering right molecular cues that yield modulated immune responses, a lack of thorough understanding of mechanisms by which lung T cells are generated and maintained in tissues during vaccination, and the optimal vaccination strategies to induce durable lung T cells are not identified. We use pharmaceutical engineering strategies and combine them with immunological principles to address these challenges.

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