Antimicrobial Countermeasures (vaccine and drug)

Vaccines are human and animal’s best defense against various pathogens and infectious diseases. From the smallpox vaccine in the late 1700s to the current COVID-19 vaccines, vaccines have saved millions of people and animal’s life. Effective drugs, on the other hand, save people's (and animals') lives once an infection has taken place. With increasing interactions between humans and nature and increasing worldwide travel, human (and animal) life will undoubtedly be challenged by more emerging pathogens and infectious diseases. The development of new vaccines and the discovery of new drugs will play increasingly important roles in the days to come.

As evidenced by the COVID-19 vaccines, a successful vaccine development requires the collaboration of scientists across various disciplines, from immunologists, and virologists, to engineers. Similarly, drug development and delivery require close collaboration of chemists, engineers, and clinicians.

By applying innovative technology, scientists in the CeZAP antimicrobial countermeasures (vaccine and drug) thematic area at Virginia Tech are developing vaccines and drugs to help protect and treat humans and animals from various diseases.

Research highlights relating to thematic area:

• Faculty XJ Meng is an inventor on 25 awarded and 18 pending U.S. patents on various viral vaccines.
• Emily Mevers is leveraging the Microbiota of Moon Snail Egg Masses for Drug Discovery.
• Mohamed Seleem received a $2 million NIH grant for ongoing studies on how to repurpose existing drugs to fight Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
• Webster Santos is an inventor on over 20 issued and pending patents. He develops the next generation drugs to combat bacterial and fungal infection

Students:

• Abdullahi Jamiu, who performs antiviral research, recently got inducted into two Honor Societies, Sigma Xi Research Honor society and Omicron Delta Kappa society.

Affiliated Faculty:

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