The Irvine Lab is developing an intranasal vaccine that can bypass multiple barriers in the nasal cavity (seen here in cross-section) to activate a ‘frontline’ defense of immune cells and antibodies in the mucosa that protect against mucosally-transmitted pathogens. 

Evading clearance and degradation by mucus, the vaccine (yellow) is taken up by epithelial cells (indigo) lining the nose. It uses a naturally-occurring protein called albumin as a chaperone to hitchhike across mucosal cell layers (magenta) into underlying immune tissues. Further testing shows that the vaccine elicits protective immune responses against intruders such as HIV and SARS-CoV-2.

This work was published in Science Translational Medicine in July 2022.