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After decades of pioneering research in fields ranging from melanoma and colon cancer to HIV and rabies, vaccine researchers at Thomas Jefferson University finally have a “home” to call their own. Jefferson has established the Jefferson Vaccine Center to create an infrastructure for all of the university’s research and clinical efforts, while hoping to spur new collaboration and innovation.

The new center is headed by Matthias Schnell, Ph.D., professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Jefferson Medical College, Laurence Eisenlohr, DVM, Ph.D., professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Jefferson Medical College, serves as associate director.

“We want to bring people together to encourage collaborations and sharing ideas,” says Dr. Schnell, whose own work focuses on the mechanisms behind HIV infection, and ways to combat it. He has used a drastically weakened rabies virus to ferry HIV-related proteins into animals, in essence vaccinating them against an AIDS-like disease.

“Having an infrastructure will help connect people. Building a center of strength will help everyone. We’ll all be more successful if we combine forces.”

“We really have an impressive critical mass of expertise in vaccine science across the university,” adds Dr. Eisenlohr, noting that testing potential vaccines in animals and later, in humans, is only part of the development process. Basic scientists toil in the laboratory to understand a vaccine’s effects on the immune system and the body. Members of the center will likely come from various Jefferson departments, such as Microbiology and Immunology, Medicine, Cancer Biology, Medical Oncology and Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, as well as Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center.

The university has had a rich history of vaccine research and success. Some current research efforts include:

• Polio and rabies vaccines pioneer Hilary Koprowski, M.D., professor of Cancer Biology at Jefferson Medical College, who currently is championing the development of plant-based vaccines. Swallowing a piece of engineered lettuce or tomato, for example, may someday help vaccinate the world’s poor against a host of devastating diseases at a fraction of the current cost.
   
• David Berd, M.D., and Michael Mastrangelo, M.D., both professors of Medical Oncology at Jefferson Medical College, have helped pioneer the development of melanoma vaccines. Dr. Berd’s vaccine, created from a patient’s own tumor cells, has had well chronicled successes and currently is in clinical testing.
   
• Clinical pharmacologist Scott Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Jefferson Medical College, is working on a completely different type of vaccine for colorectal cancer. He and his co-workers are taking advantage of the unique “compartmentalized” nature of the immune system in the intestines to create a vaccine using a protein expressed by metastatic colorectal cancer cells. In mouse models, it’s cut tumor growth and extended survival.
   
• Basic scientist Craig Hooper, Ph.D., associate professor of Cancer Biology, studies the immunology of rabies infection, particularly in the brain, while Bernhard Dietzschold, DVM, professor of microbiology and immunology, is working toward devising a new and improved rabies vaccine in wildlife. Both efforts are aimed at helping reduce the toll the disease takes worldwide, especially among the poorer nations.

In addition, over the past decade, Jefferson vaccine scientists have tackled such varied organisms and diseases as botulism, anthrax, Alzheimer’s disease, SARS, and ovarian cancer.

“There’s a huge unmet need for newer, safer and better vaccines,” Dr. Schnell says. “A vaccine center is a long overdue, natural progression at Jefferson to move all of our efforts forward.”