The Dow Chemical Company has entered into a 4-year, $5.7 million cooperative research agreement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to apply new technology for rapid development of vaccines. Dow will subcontract with Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology to co-develop the technology and with the University of Maryland to provide screening for efficacy.

NIH requested proposals for new vaccine technologies against infectious diseases, including biowarfare agents. Dow's approach will be based on new plant viral particle technology, with vaccine protein production taking place on leaves of greenhouse-grown plants.

Speed of production is the most significant advantage according to Carolyn Fritz, Dow's global business director for Industrial Biotechnology. "We anticipate that our plant technology will cut production time to 3 or 4 months, reduce cost, and produce effective and safe vaccines that can be delivered by capsule or nasal spray. This would be a big improvement over existing technology," said Fritz.

Fraunhofer USA will be exploring complementary technology and will provide a highly developed plant virus platform system with a wide host range. "This plant-based vaccine system will reduce the risk of contamination by animal pathogens," said Barry Marrs, Executive Director of Fraunhofer USA. "We have seen excellent results in preliminary animal testing." The University of Maryland will perform pre-clinical testing.

Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology is part of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, the leading non-profit contract research organization in Europe, with annual revenues of one billion euros. Fraunhofer USA offers transient expression of proteins in plants for the production of vaccines or therapeutic proteins, such as antibodies and peptide hormones, and together with its parental Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, can provide a wide range of cutting-edge molecular biology services.

Dow is a leading science and technology company that provides innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $28 billion, Dow serves customers in more than 170 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress, including food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of Sustainable Development, Dow and its approximately 50,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities.