By using a new type of screening test to screen a billion candidates from a phage library, a biotech startup company has isolated and sequenced a set of highly aggressive "pathogen pattern" peptides. That is a highly useful result, since these peptide sequences, when added (in low copy numbers) to the surfaces of vaccine particles, can provide rapid, precision-guided, “targeted transport” of those vaccine particles, directly into an ideal set of specialized immune cells, which will then launch a response that will form antibodies to any type of antigen sequence, derived from any type of pathogen, that is carried in high copy numbers on those same vaccine particles.

          The mucosal membranes in all vertebrate animals have "surface mounted lymph nodes" (called MALT patches, for "mucosal-associated lymphoid tissues"), as a first line of defense against pathogens which attack and infect mucosal cells. Surface cells called "M cells" are adapted for "sampling" any particles that contact them, to identify – and pull in – those which appear to be dangerous. Rather than processing those particles, an M cell will rapidly hustle and push a particle (enclosed in a membrane bubble) through the cell, and it will eject that particle, in naked form again, into a "docking site" on its "basal" surface. When "dendritic" immune cells are formed, they are attracted to those docking sites, and large numbers of dendritic cells settle into those docking sites, to await delivery of a pathogen. If and when a particle is handed to a dendritic cell by an M cell, the dendritic cell will use its surface receptors to analyze that particle, and if the particle has certain types of "pathogen patterns" on its surface – causing it to appear to be both dangerous, and important – that "immature" dendritic cell  will undergo an "activation" (aka "maturation") event, which will transform it into an "antigen-presenting cell". When that happens, the  activated (maturing) dendritic cell will leave that docking site, and go searching for the "germinal center" of a lymph node; and, while it travels, it will semi-digest surface proteins on the particle, and mount "chunks" of those proteins on mounting-plaque proteins (MHC proteins). When that "antigen presentation" occurs inside a lymph node, B and T cells in the lymph node will take over, and will begin working together to create antibodies that will bind to those antigen sequences.

          By studying the changes that occur when an immature dendritic cell commits to activation/maturation, and by creating a new type of screening test which could isolate dendritic cells which had commenced that process, we were able to isolate phage particles which happened to be carrying small foreign peptide inserts, having "pathogen pattern" sequences that appear to be so aggressively dangerous that they can activate and drive M cells, and then dendritic cells, to perform every step in the sequence described above, and take the dendritic cells all the way to a full and irrevocable commitment to activation, maturation, and doing what it takes to launch an antibody-forming response.

          We then hired a phage lab to create genetically-engineered phage particles, with 15 copies/particle of the "MALT-targeting" sequences, and hundreds of copies/particle of a well-known, easy-to-test antigen (the "HA-tag epitope"). "Antibody production tests", in both mice and pigs, showed that even at the lowest dosages tested, a single nasal infusion of those particles, with no adjuvants added, triggered "robust" formation of not just internal antibodes, but of secreted mucosal antibodies as well, which work via an entirely different mechanism.

          We then shifted over to a different and better type of phage vehicle, and we selected an antigen sequence found in numerous strains of influenza viruses which are actively causing problems around the world. As soon as those particles become available – hopefully, within the next month or two – we will have a "Biosafety Level 3" lab begin testing them, in "pathogen challenge tests".

          We will not be ready to formally announce and publish the results of that work, until the results from the pathogen challenge tests become available, hopefully by the end of March 2025. However, we are using this website to begin quietly spreading information about what we have done so far, and what we are planning to do next, among small numbers of animal vaccine companies, research experts, and government agencies, in an effort to help give them some advance notice, and an opportunity to begin considering whether they might want to weave this opportunity into their research plans for 2025.

          Every result we have been seen to date indicate that this new approach to creating “MALT-targeting” vaccines can provide three new and extremely useful benefits:

1. When applied topically, as “mucosal vaccines” (such as by nasal spray, or via lollipops, or lozenges), they will trigger the formation of both the normal, well-known types of antibodies that function inside the body, as well as an entirely different class of “secreted antibody dimers” (which work by an entirely different mechanism), into saliva, nasal mucus, lung and genital fluids, and digestive juices, to provide a “first line of defense” against mucosal pathogens (which includes all upper respiratory tract infections, including COVID, and influenza).

2. By using a “targeted transport” system, these vaccines completely eliminate any need for the types of harsh, unpleasant, muscle-irritating “adjuvants” that are required to make injected vaccines effective; and,

3. These vaccines can completely eliminate needles, injections, and medical waste, and they do not even require refrigeration. Instead of having to make an appointment, get a shot, and feel soreness aat the injection site for 2-3 days afterward, any administrator can pass around a bowl of tasty lollipops, to a group of people.

          The startup company which created this new approach to vaccine design has no desire or intent to become a manufacturing company, and we do not have the “biosafety labs” or expertise to perform “pathogen challenge tests”. Instead, we intend to become a licensing company, and will offer (at low cost) customized MALT-targeting phage constructs – carrying any antigen sequence designated by the requester – to any animal vaccine company, vet school research group, government agency, or other qualified research group that will commit to testing those phage constructs in “pathogen challenge tests” in one or more types of animals. To provide incentives and motivation for that type of testing, we hereby offer a worldwide exclusive license – covering MALT-targeting vaccines against one or more specific diseases, in one or more designated types of animals – to the first company or research group which generates enough positive data to support an “animal vaccine registration” (i.e., an approval for sale) by the US Department of Agriculture.

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