Word: mimic
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Here's how MIMIC works: Donors fork over a few white blood cells - specifically, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, or PBMCs, which include infection-fighting lymphocytes like T and B cells. The blood cells go into specially designed "tissue constructs," which are forged from collagen and endothelial cells and designed to act just like human skin (think a Barbie Dream House for white blood cells). Each construct is hunkered inside an individual well where the blood cells mingle with the faux tissue. As the blood cells get cozy, they flourish, and a teensy, homegrown, fully functioning human immune system is born...
...MIMIC's speed and flexibility makes it particularly attractive to AIDS vaccine researchers. As things stand, it takes months for potential AIDS vaccines to graduate from small-animal trials to monkey studies. "That takes a lot of time, and, with HIV, we don't have a lot of time," says Koff. "We asked the question is there a way to do it faster and take it to humans more quickly...
IAVI's search for an answer led them to Florida. Earlier this month, IAVI chose VaxDesign to receive the first award from its Innovation Fund, which supports potential breakthrough technologies applicable to AIDS vaccine research. Compared to what's available, MIMIC offers a dramatic increase in scale and speed, says Koff. "What's more, by collecting immune cells from different donors, promising vaccine candidates can be tested in diverse populations before they enter humans...
...goes well with test runs on licensed vaccines for yellow fever and rabies, VaxDesign will begin work on potential AIDS vaccines next year. While critics might argue that MIMIC is too oversimplified to be useful, Koff doesn't agree. "From our point of view, [VaxDesign is] further advanced than anyone in the field in terms of tissue engineering and vaccine design," he says. "If they are successful it will revolutionize all of vaccinology...
...possibilities for medical breakthroughs don't end at vaccines. VaxDesign hopes to use the MIMIC system to study autoimmune diseases, like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as inflammatory conditions, such as Crohn?s disease. The aim is to better understand both how these diseases impact immune function as well as help design smarter drugs. Says Koff, "the opportunities are endless...