Progress 05/15/24 to 05/14/25

Outputs
Target Audience:Nanovax 2024, which was the first event of its kind, brought together a cohort of students, researchers, and industry leaders in human and animal health, interested in new vaccine technologies. Our targeted approach had a dual focus to bring in interdisciplinary attendees as well as presenters who represent leading efforts in groundbreaking vaccine research and commercialization. 121 attendees joined us in Ames, Iowa for the three-day event. Target participants for this event were researchers at colleges/universities, state and federal agency scientists, industry researchers, post-doctoral associates, and graduate and undergraduate students. The attendees at Nanovax 2024 represented a range of research areas oriented around vaccine development, deployment, and distribution. Attendees work in areas such as nanotechnology, materials science, immunology, oncology, neuroscience, microbiology, pharmaceutical development, clinical science, and social science. Through this event, attendees had access to a network of an international cohort of researchers in biomedical sciences. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The full conference program centered around three subject areas: human health, animal health, and manufacturing, development, and distribution. Participants received up-to-date knowledge and research on emergent animal-human health topics and the production of next-generation countermeasures to disease. Izabela Galeska (Merck) provided an overview of the development of veterinary injections and implants. Further discussions on animal health followed on polyanhydride-based vaccines in cattle (Paola Boggiatto, USDA ARS) and extended antigen release vaccine platforms for livestock (Nicholas Bockenstedt, Iowa State University). A perspective of industry challenges and opportunities in animal health was given by Mike Roof, Chief Technology Officer, Vaccines, Diagnostics, and Immunotherapeutics bioscience platform, Office of the Vice President for Research at Iowa State University, who has over 25 years of industry experience. Participants received knowledge on cGMP protocols and regulations to advance products to commercialization from leading experts in industry including Brenda Carillo Conde (Pfizer, Inc) and Ken Carson (Southwest Research Institute). Presentations and dialogue emphasized the pathways and the pipeline to getting products to market, as well as presentations on healthcare solutions themselves. As an inaugural conference, we sought to emphasize infrastructure and regulation as that is not only a hurdle for timely delivery of vaccines, but it is an approach that is open to the social ecology of disease management from a bedside-to-bench-and-back approach. Research at this conference included efforts to map disease mutation and the legacy of disease within animals and people to predict patterns of disease spread and its affinity to certain animals and humans. Ratul Chowdhury (Iowa State University), for example, presented on computational tracking of viral escape variants using computational modeling. The conference program was designed to meet the needs and challenges of attendees. The topics addressed included respiratory disease and certain cancers on a continuum of biosecurity threats to the agriculture commodity chain and overall human health. A key thematic session of the program focused on how to bring animal-human disease solutions to a commercial scale by examining product development, regulatory challenges, as well as commercialization and scale up. Nanovax 2024 started efforts to cultivate the next generation of an innovative translational biomedical research community. This event was a launch point for future conferences and engagement events for the attendees who gathered at Nanovax 2024. This event spurred conversations on external factors impacting research, such as the variability of disease and active mutations occurring with highly pathogenic avian influenza occurring in the livestock industry. Conference organizers listened to this input and worked to organize Nanovax 2025 to be oriented around these emergent health issues (held April 2-3, 2025). As result of Nanovax 2024, participants have made new connections to tackle emergent health problems. New partnerships have been formed between a research hospital and an R1 institution, as well as a new connection between an R1 institution and an international commercial pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. Other outcomes from Nanovax 2024 included leveraging new funding to support projects and advance public knowledge in infectious disease management. Following this conference, we have received support from Merck Animal Health, Bioconnect Iowa, Elanco, Southwest Research Institute, and ProMed Pharma, which in total, provided $24,000 in sponsorship funds to the following Nanovax Conference in 2025. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have maintained a listserv of attendees of Nanovax 2024. These members are included as part of regular quarterly communication from the Nanovaccine Institute to disseminate the latest research findings in biomedical research topics, peer reviewed publications, events and workshops of interest, and federal agency updates. Presenters and topics were disseminated through the Nanovaccine Institute website, conference webpages, and through social media channels including LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and Instagram. Attendees were invited to Nanovax 2025, which focused on countermeasures to emergent and re-emergent disease. The event had a special focus on avian influenza across livestock and humans. The 2025 program featured presentations from two National Academies of Science members, as well as remarks from the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture on the status of avian influenza in the State of Iowa. Nanovax 2024 Public Report: https://nanovaccine.iastate.edu/files/2025/05/Nanovax-2024-Report.pdf What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Through the coordination and collaborative efforts of our Scientific Planning Committee, the conference agenda was assembled from an open call in which we sought out focal areas of research that emphasized the conference theme and longstanding topics related to vaccine and immunotherapy research. Our national call sought out presentations that emphasized interdisciplinary approaches, timely topics in animal and human health, vaccine clinical trials, as well as manufacturing, distribution, deployment, and regulation of commercial vaccines and pharmaceutical therapies for humans and agriculture commodity livestock. We received 43 submissions in total. Our 14-person Scientific Planning Committee conducted a peer review of submissions and assembled an agenda to encourage dialogue among attendees and to spur the development of new interdisciplinary teams and public-private partnerships. The agenda included three keynote speakers, three invited presentations, and 15 lightning presentations. Keynote speakers included: Brenda Carillo-Conde, Pfizer; Raches Ella, Bharat Biotech; and Paul Hauer, EDGE Consulting. The invited presenters included Maneesh Jain, University of Nebraska Medical Center; Izabela Galeska, Merck; and Ken Carson, Southwest Research Institute. These individuals represent key international vaccine manufacturers in human and animal health, regulatory experts, thought leaders, and experts in particle-based vaccine manufacturing. Several of them played critical roles in vaccine production for the recent SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic. Scientific Planning Committee Members: Mark A. Arnold, University of Iowa Bailey Arruda, USDA NADC Anne Bronikowski, Michigan State University Ken Carson, Southwest Research Institute Maneesh Jain, University of Nebraska Medical Center Sean Kelly, Iowa State University Kevin Legge, University of Iowa Jodi McGill, Iowa State University Inna Ovsyannikova, Mayo Clinic Mike Roof, Iowa State University Kathleen Ross, Iowa State University Timothy Sullivan, Zeteo Biomedical Michael Wannemuehler, Iowa State University Nanovax 2024 showcased research, safety protocols, cGMP standards, regulatory processes, and deployment of nanovaccines and nanomedicines through a pre-conference workshop and tour. Workshops and tours were coordinated by the project PI and co-PI to enable a hands-on, interactive learning experience for participants to develop skills and gain practical knowledge in scale-up and commercialization of spray dried polymer particle-based vaccines. Presentations specifically addressed polyanhydride particle production, as well as a dialogue with attendees regarding economic development and workforce pipeline from the academic environment to industry post-graduation. The program emphasized the social ecology of disease through addressing the development of new veterinary biologics as well as a dialogue on industry challenges and opportunities in mitigating livestock disease. Attendees toured the Nanovaccine Institute wet laboratory and computation laboratory space. Tour participants observed demonstrations of equipment and experiment processes from experienced staff and graduate students. Attendees were able to view the equipment and process for spray drying polyanhydride particles. Another lab station demonstrated injectable thermoreversible hydrogels, which is a novel and promising platform for the delivery of vaccines that enables controlled and sustained release of antigens that will enhance immune response and reduce the reliance on vaccine boosters to prolong immunity to disease. This is an applicable platform in animals and humans with particular use in livestock implant technology. Other tour stops showcased chip-based platforms to study neural stem cell development and plasticity and another stop showed research in pattern cells and microscopy. Tour participants then got to view bacteriophage plaques, which can be used as a tool for vaccine development. Bacteriophages, which are viruses that can infect bacteria, can be utilized to display antigens from pathogens. Due to being stable and production ease, bacteriophage plaques can be used as a platform for affordable vaccines for human and animal health. Participants were also able to view research in microneedle application of vaccine therapies, which can deliver drugs to tissues, that with traditional therapies, are hard to reach. Lastly, participants learned about computational applications in vaccine development, such as PixF-guided image processing, also known as Pixie, is a method to infer quantified biological insights. Researchers can extract quantitative insights from imagery to analyze disease processes. As an inaugural event, organizers sought to cultivate the next generation of an innovative translational biomedical research community. Nanovax 2024 was centered on bringing together experts from all corners of vaccine and therapeutic research to advance promising and robust next generation nanovaccines and nanotherapeutics through regulatory approvals and to clinical trials. 121 attendees from the United States came from 10 US States including: Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Conference attendees represented one federal agency, three research hospital-based universities, four research-based universities, and twelve private companies that conduct research and development in biomedical engineering and pharmaceuticals. The program emphasized early career engagement with a Poster Hall, which included a student poster contest. Of the 40 graduate students who attended the conference, 26 presented research posters in the exhibit hall. Student poster presentations represented four research institutions: Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and the University of Texas at Austin. Sixteen students participated in the poster contest, which included one-on-one presentations with a three-person judging panel that included a USDA NADC scientist, a faculty member from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University, and a faculty member from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In this process, students received mentorship and feedback regarding their work and the translational impact of their research. Student Poster Contest Winners 1st: Daniela Sanchez, Iowa State University 2nd: Sudeep Ghimire, University of Iowa 3rd: Payton Kahl, University of Iowa Attendees who completed the post event survey rated the program as good to excellent (97%) with 94 percent of respondents indicating the overall program met their needs. Eighty-eight percent of respondents indicated they attended to learn about new research and over two-thirds of respondents indicated they attended for the networking opportunities. Approximately 94 percent of respondents indicated that the presenters were engaging speakers on the thematic topics. Registrants indicated they attended the conference to learn about and participate in research opportunities, to network, learn about new research, and to present their work in the field. Respondents additionally provided input on future conferences to have increased dialogue, more presentation slots in the program, and to include more industry partnerships. These items were taken into consideration for Nanovax 2025 with industry sponsorships, breakout sessions with discussion times, and longer networking opportunities.

Publications