Novel NanoVaccines Against Emerging Isolates of Avian Influenza

May 6, 2025 – Ames, IA – High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) a contagious viral disease of domestic and wild birds that re-emerged in the United States in 2022, continues to pose a serious challenge and major threat to the animal health, agriculture economy, and public health. The appearance of H5N1 strains that can spread among poultry and also infect dairy cattle, pigs, and humans shows a significant change in how the virus behaves and which species it can infect.

Dr. Adel Talaat, a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with his lab, are working to combat these challenges through the use of novel nanovaccines.

“Our technology represents a fundamentally different approach from current AI vaccines,” says Dr. Talaat. “Traditional vaccines against High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) typically use inactivated whole viruses derived from a single viral isolate. While these vaccines can be effective, their protection is often limited to strains closely related to the one used in the vaccine.”

Dr. Talaat explained that their mosaic nanovaccine is specifically designed to target the hemagglutinin (HA) protein of the virus in a very precise way. By using a “mosaic” version of HA—built from key parts of thousands of different HPAI virus samples—the vaccine is made to trigger a strong and wide-ranging immune response that can protect against many different strains of the virus. The formulation includes QuilA, a nanoadjuvant and other components that form lipid nanoparticles to encapsulate and deliver the genetic material efficiently, enabling a wider protective range than traditional monovalent vaccines. This design allows for a much wider spectrum of protection compared to conventional monovalent inactivated vaccines.

The research team led by Dr. Talaat hopes that this platform can be adapted in response to future HPAI variants since it is easy to manufacture the vaccine and can be stored at 4 or -20c for long periods of time. The stored vaccine would stay active up to 30 days under these storage conditions. At this point, it has not been tested beyond 30 days.

‘As next steps, we need to evaluate the protective efficacy of our vaccine in layer hens to ensure its effectiveness in safeguarding both meat- and egg-producing poultry flocks,” says Dr. Talaat. “In parallel, we are seeking to identify suitable commercial partners who can support the large-scale manufacturing and distribution of our vaccine to poultry producers.”

Learn more about Dr. Talaat here https://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/people/talaata/

Article written by Pradeepa Sukumaran, Program Specialist I , Nanovaccine Institute