Anne Moscona of Weill-Cornell Medical College will investigate a new approach to treating respiratory viral disease by using artificial cell-like structures to present molecules that would attract the virus and activate the fusion mechanism it uses to enter cells. By triggering this mechanism prematurely, viruses can't enter target cells and cause infection.

To fight emergence of drug and vaccine resistance in rapidly evolving parasites, Pradipsinh K. Rathod of the University of Washington in the U.S. will identify the parts of the malaria genome which contribute to rapid increases in mutations, and will screen for small molecules that inhibit these mechanisms. This project's Phase I research demonstrated that hypermutagenesis does play a strong role in the development of drug resistance. In Phase II, Rathod's team is continuing to isolate the genetic drivers of hypermutagenesis with the aim of developing a way to disable the process and improve success rates of anti-malarial drugs.

To generate the large numbers of infective malaria sporozites needed for use in an effective vaccine, James Kublin of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the U.S. will use high throughput screens to develop a library of media compounds needed to optimize in vitro production.

François Baneyx of the University of Washington in the U.S. will synthesize nanoparticles consisting of an inorganic adjuvant core surrounded by a three-dimensional antigen shell. The particles will target lymph node dendritic cells that play a key role in initiating immune responses to infectious diseases.