Georgia State Researcher Gets $3.4 Million Grant To Develop Vaccine Technology Against Flu, RSV

Sang-Moo Kang, associate professor at Georgia State University’s Center for Inflammation, Immunity and Infection, has received a federal five-year, $3.4 million grant to bolster research that will lead to better flu vaccines and vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a disease for which there is no vaccine.

The grant from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will aid Kang’s research in developing a virus-like particle, or VLP, vaccine technology.

VLPs mimic viruses, but are non-infectious, which allows for safer vaccines, especially for young children, elderly people and patients whose immune systems are compromised. VLPs trigger the immune system to respond, leading to immunity in the same way that regular vaccines made with whole viruses act.

“VLPs are a result of new technology using recombinant genetic engineering,” Kang said. “VLP technology can manipulate pathogens in a safe way so that we can design a vaccine mimicking the shape and structure of a virus.

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