UCSD scientists invent MRSA ‘nanosponge’ vaccine

UCSD scientists have created a vaccine for the deadly MRSA infection, using ‘nanosponge’ technology they previously used to soak up MRSA toxins and other poisons and venoms. The vaccine is effective in mice, they showed in a study; and their goal is to get it into human clinical trials. The nanosponges are built on a polymer core wrapped with membranes from red blood cells that seize the toxins. They were first loaded with the MRSA toxins and injected into mice. The mouse immune system recognized the toxins and developed antibodies. The vaccinated mice were then able to survive an otherwise lethal dose of the toxins. The study was published Sunday in Nature Nanotechnology. Liangfang Zhang, a nanoengineering professor at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, was senior author on the paper. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, has become one of the “superbugs” plaguing hospitals, and even some locations outside hospitals, because it...