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Commercialization of Vaccine for Rift Valley Fever (MP-12)
A major pharmaceutical company has approached the University of Texas Medical Branch – a partner in the FAZD Center – to support the development of a commercial vaccine for Rift Valley Fever using the MP-12 antigen, which is also being considered for development of a human vaccine.
Successful rescue of the MP-12 vaccine strain of the virus from DNA has been achieved (and represents the first such achievement for a Phlebovirus), paving the way forward for vaccine candidates that are highly protective but incapable of reversion. Immunogenicity testing will take place at Texas A&M University in BSL2 facilities, and subsequently, for vaccination-challenge infection evaluation at the Galveston National Laboratory BSL3Ag facility.
Principal Investigator: Dr. C.J. Peters, University of Texas Medical Branch. John Sealy Distinguished University Chair in Tropical Emerging Virology and the Director for Biodefense in the Center for Biodefense and Emerging infectious Disease at UTMB. Research focus is on Rift Valley Fever vaccines and SARS pathogenesis. Published research.