Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Discussion Group
The New York Academy of Sciences
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DONATEPosted July 24, 2019
While the development of vaccines against infectious diseases has had a profound impact on life expectancy, there remain many resistant and emerging infections for which no effective vaccines are available, such as malaria, HIV, and Zika. Recent advances in biotechnology and our understanding of human immunity hold great promise for conquering new diseases. For example, advances in structural biology allow for the discovery of new antigens that can target broad viral families, such as influenza, or complex parasites like malaria. Novel clinical trials for maternal immunizations have shown encouraging results for reducing dangerous diseases in newborn infants. Furthermore, recent progress in DNA- or RNA-based vaccines holds promise for inexpensive and fast production, which is especially favorable for responding to emerging epidemics. Learn more about recent breakthroughs in vaccine development in this summary of our May 20, 2019 symposium, which gathered the world’s leaders in vaccine development.