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The development of an effective HIV vaccine has been ongoing. HIV sequence diversity and immunodominance are major obstacles in the design of an effective vaccine. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed a novel vaccine strategy combining both DNA and mRNA vaccination to induce an effective immune response. This combination strategy could also be used to develop vaccines against cancer or other infectious diseases (ex. SARS-CoV-2). 

About half of the per capita dose of radiation due to medical exposures is provided by computed tomography (CT) examinations. Approximately 80 million CTs are performed annually in the United States. CT scans most commonly look for internal bleeding or clots, abscesses due to infection, tumors and internal structures. Although CT provides great patient benefit, concerns exist about potential associated risks from radiation doses – especially in pediatric patients more sensitive to radiation.

Biofilms are complex microbial communities, surface attached and held together by self-produced polymer matrices.  These matrices are mainly composed of polysaccharides, secreted proteins and nucleic acids.  Poly-N-acetyl glucosamine (PNAG) is a highly conserved surface polysaccharide expressed by a range of bacterial, fungal and protozoan microorganisms.

Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) is a breakthrough form of cancer immunotherapy that utilizes tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) or genetically engineered T cells to attack tumor cells through recognition of tumor-specific antigens. A major hurdle in the development of ACT is the identification and isolation of T cells that recognize antigens that are expressed by tumor cells but not by healthy tissues. Current methods to identify such T cells involve extracting autologous antigen presenting cells (APCs) from patients in an expensive, laborious, and time-consuming process.

Computer and imaging technologies led to the development of digital pathology and the capture and storage of pathological specimens as digitally formatted images. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in digital pathology, such as in three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction, requires analyses of high volumes of data. This results in increased demands for processing and acquisition of digital images of pathology samples. Increased usage cannot be met by the time-consuming, manual, and laborious methods currently used.

Vaccines have become one of the most important tools in the fight against cancers and infectious diseases. However, some vaccines have shown limitations due to their high cost and low immune responses. To overcome these limitations, bacteriophages were proposed for the development of more cost-effective, immunogenic vaccines. Phages have shown a strong ability to activate induced and adaptive immune systems. The genome of these viral particles can be engineered, and their surface proteins can be exploited for antigen display.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a worldwide public health crisis with over 440 million confirmed cases and 6.0 million deaths as of March 2022. COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). While there are several vaccines available for COVID-19, there are few therapeutics available that specifically target SARS-CoV-2. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is less understood than SARS-CoV-2. MERS-CoV patients have a 65% long-term survival rate, according the World Health Organization (WHO).

Immunotherapy is a cutting-edge new category of treatment that aims to harness and, in some cases, modify the patient’s own immune cells to improve their ability to cure diseases. It can be an effective approach for a variety of conditions, ranging from cancer to inflammatory diseases.  However, a number of obstacles to the overall success of immunotherapy still exist.  For example, reactivity against a target antigen can be attenuated or the lifespan of the “modified” immune cells can be too short.