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Newswise ST. LOUIS -- Saint Louis University researchers are attacking influenza on multiple fronts as they search for a universal vaccine that protects people from the flu virus that often mutates year to year with deadly consequences.

Their progress, as well as the efforts of other researchers in SLUs Center for Vaccine Development who are working to protect people from different infectious diseases, is chronicled in the July/August issue of Missouri Medicine, which focuses on vaccine research.

As evidenced by the current Ebola outbreak, there are no other potential world health problems that threaten massive death and illness as much as infectious diseases. Some of medicines greatest triumphs have been in the field of vaccine development, said John C. Hagan III, M.D., editor of Missouri Medicine.

As an internationally known research facility it was natural for Missouri Medicine: The Journal of the Missouri State Medicine to invite the Center for Vaccine Development at Saint Louis University Medical Center to prepare the theme scientific articles for our July/August 2014 issue.

Formed at SLU 25 years ago and continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Center of Vaccine Development has been instrumental in developing numerous vaccines that protect public health including the FLUMist nasal spray influenza vaccine and vaccines against smallpox and other potential biological weapons post 9/11. The Center for Vaccine Development also was one of the leaders on national research into an H1N1 influenza vaccine, used to protect people from the pandemic that swept the nation in 2009.

Through the years, scientists at the center also have worked on vaccines for tuberculosis, herpes simplex, hepatitis C, Dengue, pneumonia, meningitis and pertussis. They have conducted more than 100 clinical trials that have enrolled about 7,000 community volunteers.

During the last quarter century, their work has received more than $150 million in funding from various NIH contracts and grants as well as funding from multinational foundations. SLUs Center for Vaccine Development expects to receive an additional $50 to $75 million by 2023 from its recent contract as a federally funded Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU).

In the July/August issue of Missouri Medicine, SLU researchers described their work to prevent several serious infectious diseases. Here is a link to their articles.

Excerpt from:

'Missouri Medicine' Turns to SLU for Vaccine Research Insights