Three researchers with Iowa State’s Veterinary Medical Research Institute received a $200,000 Iowa State biotechnology grant to work on new ways to speed the development of animal vaccines.

According to a press release, researchers F. Chris Minion, Eileen Thacker and Michael Wannemuehler plan to develop systems that more rapidly test antigens.

Antigens are substances that stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies for fighting disease and are needed for their potential as vaccines to counteract the effects of bacteria.

“Bacteria is complex, has large DNA and responds to the environment in different ways,” said Minion, associate professor of veterinary microbiology, “whereas a virus is simple, has few proteins and small DNA.”

In the past, scientists have failed to produce a fully effective vaccine to fight bacteria due to an abundance of targets.

Minion said the researchers hope to solve this problem by identifying the specific targets.

With a growing trend of consumer concern over the use of antibiotics in livestock, the researchers hope to alleviate potential threats to the livestock industry, said Wannemuelher, associate professor of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine

According to a press release, the researchers are using two swine disease models to perform the tests.

However, the technology should work on all host cells, not just swine.

Preliminary tests were run on mice for more than a year and a half and “were very promising,” Wannemuelher said.

Minion said one key point of the grant is that the researchers “are applying existing technology in new ways.”

The grant will become effective on July 1 and will continue for two years.

“At the end of the two years, we expect to have positive results,” Minion said.

Wannemuehler also is optimistic about the research.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm going into the exploratory data [already found with the mice],” he said.

Animal biologists and pharmaceutical companies will benefit from the expected results.

Both are interested in systems that can quickly assess vaccine efficacy, Wannemuehler said.

“The end product is to prove this novel idea of gene sequence. The benefits will be cell-mediated immunity,” he said.