A new herpes vaccine leaves no trace of infection or disease
A novel vaccine developed at Penn Medicine protected almost all animal subjects exposed to the virus.
Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine have developed a vaccine to protect against genital herpes. Tested on both mice and guinea pigs, the immunization led to “mostly sterilizing immunity” from the virus—the strongest type of immunity. The results of the study are published in Science Immunology.
In the study, researchers delivered the Penn-developed vaccine to 64 mice and then exposed them to genital herpes. After 28 days, 63 of the mice were found to have sterilizing immunity, meaning there was no trace of herpes infection or disease after the exposure. The one remaining mouse developed dormant infection without any prior genital disease. Similarly, 10 guinea pigs, which have responses to herpes infections that more closely resemble that of humans, were also given the vaccine and exposed to the virus. No animal developed genital lesions and only two showed any evidence that they became infected, but the infection was not in a form that animals could transmit the virus.
“We’re extremely encouraged by the substantial immunizing effect our vaccine had in these animal models,” says the study’s principal investigator Harvey Friedman, a professor of infectious diseases. “Based on these results, it is our hope that this vaccine could be translated into human studies to test both the safety and efficacy of our approach.”
Griffin Pitt, right, works with two other student researchers to test the conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and temperature of water below a sand dam in Kenya.
Griffin Pitt’s upbringing made her passionate about water access and pollution, and Penn has given her the opportunity to explore these issues back home in North Carolina and abroad.
Helping robots work together to explore the Moon and Mars
Penn Engineers, NASA, and five other universities tested robotic systems designed to help unmanned explorers cooperate in the dunes of White Sands, New Mexico, paving the way for Moon and Mars exploration.
From framework to actions: Provost John L. Jackson Jr. talks Penn Forward
In a Q&A, Provost John L. Jackson Jr. explains the relationship between the strategic framework In Principle and Practice and Penn Forward—a new University-wide process and action plan that will advance Penn forward for the next decade and beyond.
