Jacob Thompson, the founder of a new Biotech startup in Alderley Park, is working at the cutting-edge of vaccine technology.

Along with a dedicated team, he’s developing an approach which doesn’t just focus on a single disease. Their ‘plug and display’ platform is a flexible vaccine design system, where different antigens (for example, pathogens from viruses or bacteria) can be ‘plugged’ into a carrier they’ve built, to ensure it ‘displays’ to an immune system in the right way. This would allow them to switch out a vaccine target against, for example, Tuberculosis, for one against influenza.

Whilst other UK teams are building similar technology, Jacob’s startup is unique in using a mucosal adjuvant - a substance that can be added to a vaccine to boost its immune response at mucosal surfaces, like those that line our lungs or gastrointestinal tract - to stimulate a stronger and more effective response.

This efficacy is their unique selling point. No other vaccine platform on the market currently offers a combination of triggering mucosal immunity, with a plug and display approach.

Instead of provoking an immune response throughout the entire body, their vaccine design would focus specifically on one area, such as the lungs. As a result, they’re exploring whether they could use a lower dose, which in turn could produce fewer side and off-target effects, by not triggering a systemic reaction.

Because their vaccines will be targeting mucosal surfaces, they would also be administered into the nose, orally, or by inhalation, and the team are hoping that this would increase patient uptake compared to other methods.

Exciting things are around the corner for Jacob’s startup. Once licensed for one vaccine, they could design future vaccines by simply substituting each target antigen, making development, approval and production much quicker.