(454a) Viruses, Immunity, and Vaccines

Infectious disease-causing pathogens have plagued humanity since antiquity, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been a vivid reminder of this perpetual existential threat. Vaccination has saved more lives than any other medical procedure, and indeed, effective vaccines now promise to end the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we do not have effective vaccines against rapidly mutating viruses, such as HIV; nor do we have a universal vaccine against seasonal variants of influenza. The ability to develop effective vaccines that protect us from highly mutable viruses will help create a more pandemic-resilient world. In this lecture, I will describe how by bringing together approaches from engineering and the life and physical sciences, progress is being made to address this challenge. Specifically, I will describe approaches that aim to define the mutational vulnerabilities of mutable viruses, and design vaccines that elicit immune responses that can target these vulnerabilities. The application of these approaches toward the development of effective HIV and influenza vaccines will be discussed.