UTMB Receives $9.5 Million Gates Foundation Grant for Testing New Flu Vaccine to Help Developing World

GALVESTON, Texas -- The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has received a $9.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to better control influenza epidemics in the developing world.
       
The three-year grant will allow UTMB scientists to help accelerate development of a new kind of flu vaccine that aims to strengthen people's natural immunity by linking the two main mechanisms of immune defense, innate and adaptive immunity. Traditional medical opinion has held that the innate and the adaptive immune systems operate independently. However, the candidate vaccine activates both mechanisms in sequence, similar to what happens during an infection, generating robust antibody and cell-mediated responses.

To read the full press release, visit the University of Texas Medical Branch Web site.