Recombinant protein subunit vaccines offer an improved safety profile compared to live attenuated or inactivated vaccines, making them a promising vaccine strategy. These vaccines can further enhance immunogenicity through fusion with IgG-based protein scaffolds, such as immune complex (RIC) platforms. RIC consists of an antibody and antigen complex...

Although the world has returned to a state of relative normalcy, SARS-CoV-2 infections continue to persist worldwide, and immune evasive variants continue to emerge. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are often first in line therapy for SARS-CoV-2 infections, but most have lost utility against the Omicron variant and its subvariants. One mAb cocktail, Evusheld,...

Vaccines are an essential tool in preventing and controlling many diseases. Most approved vaccines are inactivated or live attenuated type, however, alternative platforms like mRNA and virus-like particles (VLPs) are being increasingly explored and approved because they generate potent immune responses with great safety profiles. VLPs are particularly...

Plants are a promising platform for rapid production of biologics as they offer many advantages over traditional systems, including safety, speed, versatility and cost. Geminiviruses are a group of small plant viruses that have been studied and used extensively in such plant-based production systems. Because geminiviruses replicate in nuclei, their...

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito‐borne alphavirus, characterized by fever and severe joint pain. The joint pain is often debilitating and can vary in duration, sometimes lasting for years. There are currently no vaccines or therapeutic treatments for CHIKV, instead symptom relief is the primary focus with administration of bed rest, antipyretics/analgesics...

DNA modifying enzymes are common tools for genome engineering. Genes encoding these enzymes are typically delivered into a host via plasmids and later removed by various counter-selection methods. However, this process involves steps or genetic parts that aren’t available or compatible with certain organisms. For many polyploid organisms, such...

More than 170 million people worldwide are chronic carriers of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), but there is no therapeutic vaccine currently available for treating this infection. Persistent HCV infection results in chronic active hepatitis which may lead to progressive liver disease. Current treatment strategies are expensive, have substantial side effects,...

In the past decade, West Nile Virus (WNV) in the United States has resulted in more than 29,000 diagnosed cases of infection. These infections can lead to severe neurological disease, long-term morbidity, and in some cases even death. There are no effective and specific antiviral treatments for infection by WNV. There are no currently approved vaccines...

Plants are a promising platform for rapid production of biologics as they offer many advantages over traditional systems, including safety, speed, versatility and cost. And the demonstration of plant-made pharmaceuticals that have been glycoengineered to have authentic human N-glycans further underscores their promising potential. However, high accumulation...

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a common and highly aggressive brain tumor that affects over 11,000 patients every year in the US alone. Standard of care includes surgical resection, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Even with these aggressive treatments, outcomes remain poor, with a 5 year survival rate of approximately 5%. Many small molecule chemotherapeutics...