The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is one of CRDF Global’s longest-standing clients, having first used the services in 2000.  The NIAID mission is to conduct and support research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious and immune-mediated diseases. For more than 60 years, NIAID research has led to new therapies, vaccines, diagnostic tests, and other technologies that have improved the health of millions of people in the United States and abroad.

In partnership with NIAID, CRDF Global recently completed a string of projects in China aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of H5N1, a strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and the H1N1 influenza virus. These projects were implemented via grants extended to the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Tsinghua University, Beijing. 

The projects ranged in scope from generating, characterizing, and humanizing monoclonal neutralizing antibodies against HPAI strains in China; investigating the genetic variation of H5N1 isolates derived from different animal species; and developing recombinant flu vaccines against H1N1 and H5N1 viruses in China.

One project developed preclinical data to support recombinant flu vaccines that can be delivered through the intranasal route to induce protective immunity against H1N1 and H5N1 challenges. Two forms of recombinant vaccines were developed. One used recombinant proteins produced in either a baculovirus or a human eukaryotic cell system. The other used a recombinant Chinese vaccinia vector with replication capacity that has previously been demonstrated to have substantial capacity to induce potent immune responses through intranasal immunization. In addition, this project focused on a novel mast cell-based adjuvant that has been shown to significantly enhance the immunogenicity of recombinant protein vaccines when immunized intranasally.