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2027 Scholar-Innovator and ADDF-Harrington
Infectious Disease
Novel Staphylococcus Aureus Vaccine to Provide Infant Protection
2024 Harrington Scholar-Innovator
Dr. Bubeck Wardenburg’s research into developing a vaccine for Staphylococcus aureus has a very clear purpose: “I don’t want to see another child die of this disease,” she says.
S. aureus is the leading cause of bacterial pathogen-associated mortality worldwide, disproportionately affecting those younger than one year of age. Yet despite more than 30 years of vaccine development efforts, no S. aureus vaccine is available. Dr. Bubeck Wardenburg and her team are working to change that.
S. aureus makes a protein called alpha-toxin that changes the way the human immune system “sees” S. aureus, Dr. Bubeck Wardenburg explains. In effect, alpha-toxin allows the immune system to drop its guard and tolerate S. aureus.
“The goal of our research is to raise that guard through vaccination. Since all humans are exposed to S. aureus within the
first few months of life, that is the window of opportunity,” Dr. Bubeck Wardenburg says.
Dr. Bubeck Wardenburg and her colleagues have engineered mutations into the alpha-toxin that makes the vaccine more
effective at eliciting the desired immune response. In small animal testing, one such modified alpha-toxin variant has produced a high level of protective immunity in the host.
Dr. Bubeck Wardenburg credits her Harrington advisors for providing insight not only on the science, but also on what it will take for the science to advance toward a human intervention.
“Harrington Discovery Institute connects us with individuals who can influence the trajectory of this work moving forward, be that scientifically, financially, or from a business development perspective,” she says.
"While the path toward clinical trials of a population-level vaccine for infants and children is not anticipated to be straightforward, our commitment to this goal is unwavering."