Silk Proteins for More Stable Vaccines

Almost all vaccines on the market require refrigeration to remain viable – including during transport. Continuous cooling is expensive and especially challenging in developing countries. To solve this problem, Vaxess Technologies Inc., a small business funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has developed a technology that uses silk proteins to create more stable biological platform that keeps vaccines from degrading when exposed to higher temperatures. Vaxess co-founder Livio Valenti explains that the silk proteins are particularly resilient to temperature changes and help control moisture content. Vaxess is supported through the NSF Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program, a $188 million activity that catalyzes commercialization of high-risk technological innovations via research and development grants to small businesses and startups. Vaxess was one of 50 NSF-funded startups and small businesses with innovative biotech, based on fundamental research, on display at the 2016 BIO International Convention. More at NSF.gov/SBIR.