Last night, I attended GRF Tyler Moeller’s Rose Cafe about engineering vaccines. It was a bit of a culture shock for me, having not taken a biology class since junior year of high school; however, Tyler was very careful to keep the information general enough to cater to an audience that was not familiar with the intricacies of immunology. Due to the low level of detail, I found it easy to follow along and appreciate the conceptual topics. As a PhD student, Tyler is currently studying two subsets of vaccine engineering. The first is the creation of a vaccination for Francisella tularensis, a rare but extremely infectious bacteria that was researched by the USSR and the USA during the Cold War because of its potential uses as a weapon on bioterrorism. This research is being funded by the Defense Department and, to my understanding, is more of a precautionary measure than any preemptive attempt to combat the bacteria; if there was an outbreak, the vaccine could be distributed to minimize casualties, but it would not be administered without any immediate threat.

Tyler’s research also delves into the function of vaccines and how they actually do what they do, a topic I found fascinating. Tyler spoke briefly about the trajectory of vaccine research and what is on the cutting edge. Though still in very early stages, work is being done to potentially engineer antibodies to mark cancer cells as a form of immunotherapy.  Additionally, researchers are looking at new ways to make vaccines more effective, such as using different parts of the cells of the bacteria that cause the target diseases to trigger the body into making more memory cells, resulting in a longer lasting vaccine. Vaccines are something many of us take for granted in our lives, so it was interesting to learn more about exactly how they are made and they continue to be modified and improved.