On the Radar…

Inviragen announced that it has been awarded a $600,000 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to support the development of a Dengue fever vaccine. The grant will go towards a collaborative effort led by Inviragen and include scientists from the University of Wisconsin as well as the Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The research will focus on optimizing Inviragen’s vaccine to generate more potent immune responses than seen in initial testing. Vaccine development for Dengue, a common mosquito borne illness in tropical and subtropical regions, is complicated by the fact that the disease may result from any of four different RNA viruses (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4) and to be effective a vaccine must be capable of neutralizing all four strains. Inviragen, based in Fort Collins, Colorado, is focused on the development of vaccines to protect against infectious diseases.