# ARCHAEAL-DERIVED SELF ADJUVANTING NANOPARTICLE MALARIA VACCINE

> **NIH NIH R21** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $202,375

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Malaria continues to affect nearly half the world's population causing more than 500,000 deaths every year,
mainly in young children. Despite recent advances, the promise of an effective vaccine still remains out of reach.
Clinical trials of RTS,S, a subunit vaccine, has not been very encouraging due to a lack of protection in infants
and limited, short duration protection in young children. Our proposal aims to develop a novel bioengineerable,
nanoparticle (GVNP)-based malaria vaccine derived from the halophilic (salt-loving) Archaea, Halobacterium sp.
NRC-1. This vaccine delivery system has unique advantages over existing platforms such as, (1) GVNPs are
capable of self-adjuvanting and inducing robust immune response, (2) express and surface display complex,
correctly folded foreign antigens and (3) easily scalable and extremely stable. We propose to: (a) produce and
display on GVNPs 5 Plasmodium antigens that are expressed in different stages of the parasite, thereby targeting
both parasite transmission and disease; (b) immunize with the antigen-displaying GVNPs and test their
immunogenicity in mice; and (c) develop an efficacious combination vaccine formulation and evaluate the
antibody responses against erythrocytic, pre-erythrocytic and transmission stages of malaria. These studies will
lay the foundation for subsequent evaluation of the GVNP platform in the clinical setting. The development of a
vaccine delivery vehicle that is safe, inexpensive, effective, and shelf-stable should lead to a revolution in the
prevention of long-standing infectious diseases such as malaria.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9861222
- **Project number:** 5R21AI139808-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Prakash Srinivasan
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $202,375
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-06 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9861222

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9861222, ARCHAEAL-DERIVED SELF ADJUVANTING NANOPARTICLE MALARIA VACCINE (5R21AI139808-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9861222. Licensed CC0.

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