Word: vaccinees
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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You've heard of artificial limbs and artificial hearts but what about artificial immune systems? Add another notch to the test tube: scientists at VaxDesign, a five-year-old biotechnology company based in Orlando, Florida, have created a simulated human immune system, called the Modular Immune In Vitro Construct (MIMIC...
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...
Traditionally, new vaccines are tested in mice, rabbits or, in the case of AIDS, monkeys. But animal testing is time-consuming, expensive, and controversial. The biggest bugaboo of all is translation. No matter how well an experimental vaccine works in animals, the leap to humans is riddled with uncertainty and...
VaxDesign's model may soften, if not sidestep, such devastating setbacks by allowing researchers to road test a vaccine in human immune systems earlier than ever before. In essence, the constructs act as "clinical trials in a test tube." When an experimental vaccine enters the tissue constructs, the simulated immune...
That analysis would not be so devastating if the war in Afghanistan was plainly being won - so that many of those in uniform could spend all their time building schools and giving vaccine shots. Indeed, in the most recent issue of Parameters, the U.S. Army's professional journal, Zachary Selden...