Professor Blaine Pfeifer has Received $2.5M from the NIH

Blaine.

Published January 27, 2023

UB Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor Blaine Pfeifer was awarded $2.5M from the National Institutes of Health to design pneumonia vaccines tailored for older patients. 

Schematic diagram of the Liposomal Encapsulation of Polysaccharide (LEPS) vaccine delivery system.

Schematic diagram of the Liposomal Encapsulation of Polysaccharide (LEPS) vaccine delivery system

The Pfeifer group will be working with UB collaborators in the medical school on a new pneumococcal disease vaccine designed specifically for aged subjects.  The work builds on Dr. Pfeifer’s prior research devoted to vaccine design and delivery in using carrier systems to prompt a more comprehensive immune response, especially in those elderly patients who are more prone to pneumococcal disease (leading to pneumonia).  Dr. Elsa Bou Ghanem from the UB Department of Microbiology and Immunology is the co-investigator on this project.