New Vaccine Tech: VLP vaccines are extracts of virus DNA which trigger a response without the associated risk of infection [But will it do any good?]

TIME: At NanoBio Corporation, a biotech company in Michigan, scientists are perfecting a topical nasal spray that would destroy any single-celled particles, like viruses, bacteria or fungi, on contact, while leaving our multicelled tissues intact. (Blood cells would be fair game for the destructive emulsion, however, so the solution could not be injected into the body.) In animal studies, says Dr. James Baker, the company's chairman of the board, the spray protected 90% of mice from a lethal dose of influenza.

SHOOT: Some interesting developments. But the question is, are we pursuing disease care or health care? Because if we don't change the source of these diseases (human beings' excessive protein diet + industrialised animal farming + industrialised pharmaceutical care the result is the same = runaway virusses. We're treating the symptoms, not the source. One of the causes of course is human over-population, causing pollution and overly intensive farming (especially with livestock).

clipped from www.time.com Genetic advances have given researchers entirely new ways of developing vaccines. For example, instead of using the entire virus or bacterium to activate the human immune system, new strategies rely on genetic snippets from infectious bugs, which can trigger immunity without the risk of infection. At the biotech company Novavax, researchers are testing the use of virus-like particles (VLP), instead of the virus itself, to stimulate a flu immune response. Using this method, a vaccine for the 2009 H1N1 virus could be in production in 10 to 12 weeks, rather than the usual four to six months. "We have made vaccines against multiple flu strains and tested them in humans and gotten relevant and robust immune responses, which checks off the major boxes that the technology works against flu," says Rahul Singhvi, president and CEO of Novavax.