Photographic Moment

Prototype for a Universal Flu Vaccine

Colorized structure of a prototype for a universal flu vaccine. This nanoparticle is a hybrid of a protein scaffold (blue) with eight influenza hemagglutinin proteins on its surface (yellow). The hemagglutinin was specifically engineered to display antibody-binding sites common to all human influenza subtypes. The particle, designed by Jeffrey Boyington (Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), has been shown to be an effective immunogen in mice and ferrets. The three-dimensional structure of the particle was determined by cryoelectron microscopy by John Gallagher and Audray Harris (Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, NIAID).