# Delivery of Powdered Vaccines for Improving Newborn Vaccination

> **NIH NIH R21** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2021 · $247,328

## Abstract

Abstract
Objective of this proposal is to engineer a Powder-Laden, Dissolvable MicroNeedle Array
(PLD-MNA) to improve newborn Hib vaccination. Due to the immature immune system, most of
the newborn vaccines induce suboptimal immune responses and require multiple boosters to
induce a protective immunity. The lengthened vaccination schedule, in conjunction with a rapid
decline of maternal antibodies after birth, leaves a few months of a vulnerability period to
various infections for every newborn, which is the single major factor for a high rate of vaccine-
preventable diseases occurring in newborns. To eliminate or greatly shorten the vulnerable
period, we identified a potent adjuvant cGAMP, an agonist of the stimulator of IFN genes
(STING) that could robustly bolster adaptive immune responses in neonatal mice. We will
combine this potent adjuvant and powder-based epidermic vaccination to vigorously augment
Hib vaccine and reduce Hib vaccine dosage from the current 4 to 2 doses in this proposal. We
will first fabricate PLD-MNA encapsulated with Hib conjugated PRP-T vaccine and cGAMP and
characterize its loading capacity and delivery efficiency in both newborn mice and piglets. We
will also minimize skin irritation, if there is any, in a piglet model and optimize the dosage of
immunization in newborn mice. Aim 2 will validate whether prime at birth and boost 10 days later
with PLD-MNA packaged with PRP-T/cGAMP can induce a comparable or superior immune
response than four alum/intramuscular immunizations of PRP-T vaccine in the presence of
maternal antibodies. This needle-free, potentially home-use vaccination, if successful, would
represent a paradigm-shifting technology to augment many vaccines for newborns and infants,
because most of current infant vaccines are made in a form of powder and can be directly
loaded into the PLD-MNAs and applied to newborns.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10092941
- **Project number:** 5R21AI149012-02
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Mei X Wu
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $247,328
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-02-01 → 2024-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10092941

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10092941, Delivery of Powdered Vaccines for Improving Newborn Vaccination (5R21AI149012-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10092941. Licensed CC0.

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