Tomorrow’s Vaccines

Schelkunov Sergei and Salyaev Ryurik

The development of new technologies enriched our vocabulary with new concepts. A fresh example is edible vaccines. Succulent Siberian tomatoes with transgenic “filling” or candidate edible vaccine against HIV and B hepatitis infections have almost become a reality.

Vaccination invented over two centuries ago has become an effective and easy way to control infectious diseases. The first vaccines were obtained by trial and error while the current advances in molecular biology and genetic engineering offer unprecedented opportunities for new ways of immunization and new vaccines.

Siberian scientists are determined to produce an edible preventive vaccine against two terrible diseases of the present - the human B hepatitis and AIDS viruses - using one popular vegetable as a carrier. They used quite unusual approach - researchers decided to insert a gene coding synthetic immunogenic proteins into “signore Pomodoro”.

More information on these and other subjects you can find in the printed version of our journal.