In the infectious diseases lab of Stacey Schultz-Cherry, Ph.D., at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, graduate students Maria Smith and Ana Vazquez-Pagan are studying why certain high-risk populations are more susceptible to the flu.
As MBJ has reported, Smith is examining the flu in those with obesity, Vazquez-Pagan in pregnant women.
Yet that research doesn’t encompass the work of the entire lab. Smith's and Vazquez-Pagan’s projects are key pieces to a larger puzzle — a puzzle that involves not just the flu but COVID-19.
“Both Ana and Maria’s research projects are focused on why influenza is more severe in vulnerable populations and identifying ways to protect them,” Schultz-Cherry said. “That includes improved vaccines.”
A vaccine Schultz-Cherry and co. are hoping to improve is for the seasonal flu, like the one people get each year to protect them from influenza. Like with COVID-19, as the virus spreads throughout populations, new variants emerge — hence, why the vaccine has to be updated frequently, and why people are encouraged to get the shot yearly.
But, the lab is working to change this, looking at different approaches and ways of administering the vaccines.
“One goal is to create seasonal influenza vaccines that protect against all the variants,” Schultz-Cherry said. “That would mean less need to update the shot and, hopefully, not having to get the shot yearly.”
The lab has been part of the vast push to develop a universal flu vaccine that would protect against all influenza strains — even those circulating in animals.
“We will have better influenza vaccines in the near future,” she said. “There is a great deal of ongoing work on improved seasonal and universal vaccines.”
Another effort of the lab is exploring the potential of a dual vaccine that protects against both the flu and COVID-19, something Schultz-Cherry believes is possible. Already, she explained, vaccines that protect against multiple viruses have been created, like the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella.
“There are efforts underway in many laboratories, including ours, to evaluate the possibility of a combined influenza/SARS-CoV-2 vaccine,” she said. “We have just begun work to explore the immune responses when you vaccinate models with influenza and SARS-CoV-2 proteins.”
Exactly when that vaccine could become available isn’t known, with many steps required before public use. And though St. Jude’s lab is “in the race with everybody else” working on the vaccine, Schultz-Cherry said what’s paramount is that someone makes it — whether that’s her team or another lab altogether.
“At end of the day, the most important thing is not who makes it,” she said, “but that it gets made."
