Non-invasive mucosal rodent immunisation

Vaccines have been the main focus of the World’s attention since the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting their importance in fighting serious infections. However, to date, the COVID-19 vaccines in use are all injectables. Various challenges with this approach, however, have shown that mucosal vaccines (ie those administered via the mouth, nose, lungs, skin) could improve vaccine effectiveness by protecting the body’s entry points of infections as well as the whole body via the blood stream. It would also be possible to increase the distribution of vaccines without the need to store them in cold conditions. Therefore, they would be safer to administer and be more user-friendly without the use of needles for end-users such as the very young and the elderly. This applies to a wide range of vaccines including those to treat human and animal diseases, but also those that do not involve pathogens (i.e. bacteria, viruses, or other microorganisms that can cause disease) for example, for controlling fertility (for pest or population control).

Previously, we have successfully researched mucosal vaccines against influenza, tetanus, COVID-19, blood cancer and rodent population control. We have and will continue to progress understanding of how mucosal vaccines work, to design optimised vaccines using computer simulations before they are tested on animals. We will publish our research widely to enable more mucosal vaccines to reach market. The absolute essence of the development of these vaccines is to prevent pain and suffering to humans and animals, therefore it is essential to maintain that ethos in our research.

There are no other means of predicting the mucosal immune response using for example cells and so experimental animals need to be used in this way. However, with careful design and our commitment to the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) principles we endeavor to inform the scientific community so that our research will improve animal welfare and help to move away from invasive routes of administration.