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The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a $1.4 million grant to the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia to create a synthetic DNA-based vaccine for malaria.
The Wistar Institute will collaborate with the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) on the research initiative, which was created in the lab of David B. Weiner, Ph.D., executive director, Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute. Weiner is a molecular immunologist and considered a DNA vaccine pioneer.
With $1.4 million from the Gates Foundation, Dr. Weiner and collaborating partners plan to create a new synthetic DNA vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest microorganism that causes malaria.