Google analytical tool used to gauge vaccine effectiveness

Yale: Using a statistical method initially developed by Google, a Yale School of Public Health-led research team has devised a novel way to better analyze the impact of vaccines. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Pneumococcus, a bacterial pathogen, is one of the most significant causes of pneumonia around the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pneumonia is the leading cause of death globally in children under the age of 5. Vaccines that prevent pneumococcal infection can decrease pneumonia rates, but quantifying the impact of the vaccine remains challenging.

2016's Biggest Medical Science Revolutions

Pennsylvania: In the grand scheme of things, it can seem like progress in science and medicine moves pretty slow. For example, we still aren’t sure what causes premature birth, or why racial disparities exist in certain conditions. And, for all intents and purposes, Alzheimer’s is still a big black box. But in reality, when you put science and medicine under the microscope, you find that a single year can bring big, meaningful gains and exciting advances. So, as we welcome a brand new year, let’s pause to reflect on some of Penn Medicine’s biggest newsmakers from the last 12 months.

What’s in a Flu Vaccine

Pennsylvania: If you’re a person that gets a flu shot every year, chances are you have received it by now, along with the millions of others in the United States who have also been vaccinated. According to Centers for Disease Control survey data collected through early November 2016, forty percent of people have received a flu vaccine so far this year. Although getting the shot is simple enough, what goes into the vaccine, from a biological perspective to a policy point of view, is anything but. Flu vaccines work by priming the immune system with purified proteins from the outer layer of killed flu viruses. This induces immune cells to make antibodies that stop foreign invaders from infecting cells. Educating the immune system in this way readies it to attack flu viruses if the body sees them again.

Ebola vaccine works in trial

Scimex: An experimental Ebola vaccine appears to work after it proved highly protective against the deadly virus in a major trial in Guinea. The vaccine, made by Merck, Sharpe & Dohme, is the first to prevent infection from one of the most lethal known pathogens, and the findings add weight to early trial results published last year. The vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV, was studied in a trial involving 11,841 people in Guinea during 2015. Among the 5,837 people who received the vaccine, no Ebola cases were recorded 10 days or more after vaccination. In comparison, there were 23 cases 10 days or more after vaccination among those who did not receive the vaccine. The trial was led by the World Health Organization, together with Guinea’s Ministry of Health and other international partners.

Want gender equality? Get vaccinated

Scimex: Reductions in the prevalence of infectious disease are associated with increases in gender equality in the United States and the United Kingdom over the past several decades, reports a paper published online this week in the new journal Nature Human Behaviour. The study suggests that efforts to reduce infectious diseases, such as vaccinations, free health care, public sanitation and water treatment, might increase equality between the sexes around the globe. Although differences in gender equality between societies and changes within them have been well documented, the causes of shifts in levels of gender equality remain poorly understood.

Could an iron-grabbing molecule help prevent Urinary Tract Infections?

Ann Arbor: For most invading bacteria, the bladder is not a friendly place. But for those that have figured out how to scavenge iron from their hosts, it’s a fine place to grow and reproduce. And for millions of women a year, that means painful, burning, potentially dangerous urinary tract infections. Now, in an ironic twist, scientists have turned that iron-scavenging power against the most common UTI-causing bacteria.

Vaccination reinvented with a revolutionary Nanopatch delivery system

Scienceinpublic: Professor Mark Kendall is planning to dispatch the 160-year-old needle and syringe to history. This Queensland rocket scientist has invented a new vaccine technology that’s painless, uses a fraction of the dose, puts the vaccine just under the skin, and doesn’t require a fridge.  Human trials of Mark’s Nanopatch are underway in Australia, and the concept has broad patent coverage. It’s being supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck and the WHO. A polio vaccine trial is being planned for Cuba in 2017.    But it’s not been an easy path. Mark has had to push the science and business worlds to see the value of a new approach to vaccine delivery. It took 70 presentations before he secured funding for the UQ spin-out company Vaxxas.