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Vaccines typically target specific pathogens by stimulating a strong adaptive immune response to that pathogen when it enters the body. Yet for many known pathogens, we have no vaccines, and new pathogens can emerge at any time and spread before a vaccine can be developed. To address these limitations, a multi-institutional team designed a novel type of vaccine that would stimulate both innate and adaptive immunity to a variety of respiratory pathogens.
The researchers first created liposomes — tiny fatty balloons. Inside the liposomes were molecules that activate toll-like receptors and thereby stimulate innate immunity, as well as an antigen (ovalbumin) that stimulates the adaptive T-cell response. They applied the liposome solution…