Stabilizing Vaccines with Porous Materials

Vaccines degrade at elevated temperatures because the proteins in the vaccine unfold and lose their functional structure.  Vaccine storage and distribution therefore relies on a “cold chain” of continuous refrigeration which is costly and not always effective, as any break in the cold chain can lead to rapid loss of vaccine effectiveness.  Dr. Shiflett’s group is developing new techniques to deposit vaccines in the pores of mesoporous silica in order to stabilize the protein from the effects of elevated temperature.  The pores constrain the movement of the protein preventing the loss of structure, and subsequently the protein is released back into solution using detergents with the structure and function intact.  Dr. Shiflett’s group is currently patenting a material, which is effective for stabilizing a vaccine used to treat Shigellosis.

The REU students working on this project will learn about vaccines and mesoporous silica materials with pore sizes capable of capturing and storing proteins.  Students will learn how to characterize the silicas’ surface area, pore size and volume using a Micrometrics ASAP instrument, and how to deposit proteins in silicas using wet impregnation methods.  The students will be taught how to measure the amount of protein deposited by measuring the difference in solution using a NanoDrop 2000 UV-vis and how to characterize the secondary protein structure using circular dichroism.  They will also learn how to invent new products and how to write patents.