T Cell Platform

We are exploiting the unique immunology of human cytomegalovirus, or HCMV, a commonly occurring virus in humans, as a delivery vehicle – or vector – for vaccines to potentially treat and prevent infection by pathogens that are refractory to current vaccine technologies. HCMV is the most potent known inducer of T cell responses of any human virus and may induce potent and long-lasting T cell responses to a broader range of epitopes than observed for other viral vaccines. In addition, we can make proprietary modifications in the HCMV genome that we expect will elicit different types of pathogen-appropriate T cell responses. We call this approach “immune programming,” and believe that this platform may also have applicability beyond infectious diseases, to areas such as cancer.