# Improved Influenza Vaccine Efficacy Through Infection Mimicry

> **NIH NIH R44** · VAXESS TECHNOLOGIES, INC. · 2020 · $997,500

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The World Health Organization estimates that influenza viruses cause serious illness in 3 to 5 million people and
up to 650,000 deaths globally each year. While seasonal vaccines to prevent influenza infection are available,
frequent mutations in the virus require manufacturers to guess which strains will circulate each season and
reformulate vaccine on an annual basis. As a result, the public health impact of seasonal vaccines is limited due
to challenges with product efficacy (estimated at 36% for the 2017-18 season). This challenge highlights the
critical need for improving current influenza vaccines through strategies to both improve humoral responses
(onset, magnitude, and breadth) and generate additional responses such as mucosal immunity and CD4/CD8
cellular responses. Our technology focuses on engineering the sustained release of seasonal influenza vaccines
to mimic infection kinetics over 1-2 weeks, providing greater breadth of anti-influenza antibodies and inducing T
cell responses. This is accomplished through the use of silk fibroin biomaterial in a microneedle array format that
can be easily administered to the skin. The design of the microneedles is such that after a brief 5 minute wear
time, the silk microneedle tips are released from the patch and are embedded in the dermis. These silk tips have
been engineered to both stabilize vaccine antigens at body temperature while slowly releasing this payload over
1-2 weeks. Our central hypotheses include: (1) sustained antigen presentation mimicking natural infection
kinetics can enhance influenza vaccine responses, including greater breadth of protection, and (2) microneedle
delivery could simplify patient administration while also improving antigen delivery to immune cells in the skin.
These hypotheses are supported by our preliminary data with this strategy, demonstrating significant
improvements to the humoral and cellular responses elicited by influenza vaccination. As such, we aim to
advance our product towards the clinic through further optimization of the composition of our silk microneedles
and by demonstrating their immunogenicity, manufacturability, and safety in IND-enabling studies. Successful
completion of our objectives will position the technology for a Phase I clinical trial with the ultimate goal of
reducing the global burden of influenza.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10052617
- **Project number:** 4R44AI142948-02
- **Recipient organization:** VAXESS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Kathryn Kosuda
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $997,500
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2019-04-15 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10052617

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10052617, Improved Influenza Vaccine Efficacy Through Infection Mimicry (4R44AI142948-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10052617. Licensed CC0.

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