Gregory Moseley, Stephen Rawlinson and David Jans at Monash University in Australia will engineer a live virus with a self-destruct sequence for use in a vaccine. This virus would be identical to a wild-type virus, but contain destabilizing domains fused to key proteins that can be regulated to first allow the virus to replicate and induce an immune response, and then be destroyed.

Charani Ranasinghe of The Australian National University will test a new vaccine technology that modulates a host cytokine response to HIV vaccines. If successful, this “cytokine trap” technology may also enhance T-cell mediated immunity to other vaccine antigens, such as Tuberculosis.

Youngnim Choi of Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea will test whether Fusobacterium nucleatum, a common bacteria often found in human mouths, can be used to deliver antigens to the oral mucosa. This bacteria has the ability to invade epithelial tissues, and Choi hopes to engineer a strain to express a vaccine antigen when given under the tongue to induce both antibody production and a strong cell-mediated immune response.

James Shorter of The University of Pennsylvania in the U.S. will engineer enzymes that disassemble protein fibrils found in semen, which are known to allow for the transmission of HIV infection. The ability to reverse fibril formation could block sexual transmission of HIV and provide a new weapon against the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.