# Development of proprietary bacteriophage Qbeta as a vaccine carrier platform for anti-salmonella vaccine

> **NIH NIH R43** · IASO THERAPEUTICS, INC. · 2022 · $294,562

## Abstract

Project summary
 Vaccines have saved millions of lives. However, there are many diseases against which vaccines are not
yet available, with the current COVID-19 pandemic in the world serving as a painful reminder of the need for
vaccines against emerging diseases. With the growing emphasis on vaccine safety, next-generation vaccine
designs have been increasingly focusing on subunit antigens. Because subunit epitopes tend to have lower
immunogenicity, immunogenic carriers are critical to deliver the desired antigen to the immune system and to
enhance the immune responses. However, there are very few carriers available that have been validated in
clinical studies. In this SBIR phase I project, Iaso Therapeutics, Inc. will focus on the development of a proprietary
bacteriophage mutant Qβ (mQβ) virus like particle as a platform technology for conjugate vaccines. In aim 1,
robust protocols will be established for expression, purification, and long-term storage of mQβ. In addition, head
to head comparison will be performed to demonstrate that mQβ can elicit higher levels of antibodies as compared
to current benchmark carriers. In aim 2, the powerful mQβ platform will be applied to deliver Salmonella
associated glycans as potential vaccines against multiple strains of common pathogenic Salmonella. The
vaccine will be optimized to enhance protection from Salmonella infection. When successfully developed, this
project will establish mQβ as an attractive immunogenic carrier for vaccine development and provide important
pre-clinical data for anti-Salmonella vaccines.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10448433
- **Project number:** 5R43AI157185-02
- **Recipient organization:** IASO THERAPEUTICS, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Herbert Wanjala Kavunja
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $294,562
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-09 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10448433

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10448433, Development of proprietary bacteriophage Qbeta as a vaccine carrier platform for anti-salmonella vaccine (5R43AI157185-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10448433. Licensed CC0.

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