# Thermostable Inactivated Potent Yellow Fever Vaccine

> **NIH NIH R41** · UNIVERSAL STABILIZATION TECHNOLOGIES · 2021 · $299,380

## Abstract

Summary
 Yellow Fever (YF) is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever disease caused by Yellow Fever
 virus (YFV) and an estimated 200,000 YF infections occur annually. Approximately 50% of
 infected individuals that develop a severe case of the disease will die. The infection is
 common in Africa and South America, and travelers and residents of those areas are at
 high risk of contracting the virus. A recent resurgence of YF in Africa and South America
 has exposed the YFV vaccine supply shortage that is insufficient to fight this major public
 health problem.
 In this project, Universal Stabilization Technologies (UST) in collaboration with University of
 Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) will apply UST’s novel approach for development of
 thermostable, inactivated, and potent vaccine against YF starting with wild-type YFV. The
 YFV will be stabilized at ambient temperatures (AT) using UST’s patented “Preservation by
 Vaporization” (PBV) technology and subsequently inactivated at AT using electron beam
 (EB) irradiation procedure to produce inactivated and potent vaccine against Yellow Fever.
 The EB inactivation has been found to inactivate through virus nucleic acid damage without
 affecting virus surface structures, thus preserving integrity of epitopes, or antigenic
 determinants recognized by the immune system, while preventing virus replication.
 The specific aims for this project are the following:
 • Aim 1: Produce thermostable, electron beam (EB) inactivated Yellow Fever
 vaccine candidate.
 • Aim.2. Perform long-term stability testing at low, medium, and high ambient
 temperatures: 4⁰C. 25⁰C. 37⁰C and short-term testing at 70⁰C.
 • Aim 3. Evaluate protective efficacy of the YFV vaccine candidate against
 viscerotropic YF in a hamster model.
 Our immediate goal is to prove feasibility of a safe, effective, low-cost thermostable
 vaccine against Yellow Fever virus. The technologies developed in this project could
 eventually provide a platform technology for quick development of safe, thermostable,
 and effective vaccines against other emerging diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10325436
- **Project number:** 1R41AI165205-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSAL STABILIZATION TECHNOLOGIES
- **Principal Investigator:** Patricia Veronica Aguilar
- **Activity code:** R41 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $299,380
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-06-23 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10325436

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10325436, Thermostable Inactivated Potent Yellow Fever Vaccine (1R41AI165205-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10325436. Licensed CC0.

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