The Funding Extends Successful Research Supported by An MPower Seed Grant
Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg
Andrew Broadbent, assistant professor in the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences at the University of Maryland College Park, and Lynda Coughlan, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore have received a $1.99M award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), to develop and test a vaccine to protect chickens against avian influenza H5N1.
The ongoing outbreak of H5N1 bird flu is widely considered to be the most significant animal health event in U.S. history, having infected more than 170 million poultry, disrupted the food supply and led to increased costs for farmers and high egg prices for consumers. A safe, effective vaccine that can protect birds, humans and other animals against the spread of the disease would be a major breakthrough in protecting food security and animal and human health.
There are currently a number of poultry vaccines available in different countries, but each have drawbacks for managing the rapidly evolving H5 viruses. Some don’t stimulate strong cellular immunity, some protect well against one strain but not emerging variants, and some are harder to update quickly when new strains appear. That’s why researchers are exploring improved or more flexible types of vaccines that can generate broader, longer-lasting, and more adaptable protection as H5 viruses continue to change.
Broadbent and Coughlan are developing an avian influenza vaccine that uses non-replicating adenovirus as a delivery platform. The researchers demonstrated that this approach has the potential for success, with the help of a seed grant from the MPowering the State initiative, a strategic partnership between UMD and UMB to boost research, innovation, and economic development for Maryland.
Their initial MPower-funded study showed that non-replicating adenovirus vectored vaccines generate strong immune responses in chickens, with antibodies recognizing multiple diverse H5 strains—evidence of broad protective potential. What’s more, the vaccines are stable and effective at room temperature and can be easily modified to protect against emerging strains. The current award will build on this foundation by expanding antigen production, further refining vaccine candidates to address newly emerging H5 genotypes, and testing different routes of inoculation and doses, to strengthen preparedness against future spillover to humans and other animals.
