In the News
Publications around the world have featured our work and our founder, David Edwards. We present a sampling below. Check back regularly for the latest media coverage.
15 April, 2010, Science Daily
Aerosols: New Tool Against Tuberculosis?
Scientists have developed a new strategy for treating tuberculosis using dry powder aerosols that could be delivered with an inhaler. Read More.
16 October, 2008, Xconomy, Boston
First inhalable Tuberculosis vaccine being prepped for clinical trials by Harvard, MEND Scientists.
David Edwards, a biomedical engineering professor at Harvard University, thinks he may have a better vaccine against tuberculosis in the works. He’s negotiating with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other international nonprofits to pump enough cash into a clinical trial to get an early glimpse into whether he’s really onto something. Read More.
6 October, 2008
Nobel Prize 2008 in Medicine awarded to Professors Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier
This year the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award The Nobel Prize in Medicine to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of "human immunodeficiency virus" (HIV). As director of the scientific council of the ANRS (French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis), Françoise Barré-Sinoussi supported MEND’s 2008 conference on vaccine and technology for diseases of poverty. Read More.
3 October, 2008
TED Prize Winner James Nachtwey Unveils XDR-TB Focus of Global Photography Wish Project
The photojournalist James Nachtwey received the TED prize and as a result of this prize he wished to raise public awareness on XDR-TB (extra drug resistant tuberculosis). The photographer as been concerned by this disease for several years and MEND supported his experiment with Dr Anne Goldfeld, a Harvard professor who has been building clinics in Cambodia for the last 20 years. After a year dialogue between the artist and the scientist an exhibition was released capturing the complexities of patients who suffer from AIDS and tuberculosis. The exhibit was presented at Le Laboratoire during MEND conference on vaccine and drug for infectious diseases. Read More. | Watch the Videos.
2 April, 2008
Inhalable Drugs on the Launch Pad: Will They Take Off?, Pharmatech.com
Pharmaceutical companies that face dwindling new-drug pipelines are pursuing new delivery methods for their drug products. One strategy is to develop respiratory delivery techniques for drugs that are now administered by injection. Read More
25 March, 2008
Immunization by a bacterial aerosol, PNAS – proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
By manufacturing a single-particle system in two particulate forms (i.e., micrometer size and nanometer size), we have designed a bacterial vaccine form that exhibits improved efficacy of immunization. Microstructural properties are adapted to alter dispersive and aerosol properties independently. Read More.
22 March, 2008
UNC Proofs Inhaled TB Vaccine, UNC
A new tuberculosis vaccine successfully tested at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is easier to administer and store and just as effective as one commonly used worldwide. Read More.
12 March, 2008
Inhaled Tuberculosis Vaccine More Effective Than Traditional In Study Using Experimental Animals, Harvard University Press Release
A novel aerosol version of the most common tuberculosis (TB) vaccine, administered directly to the lungs as an oral mist, offers significantly better protection against the disease in experimental animals than a comparable dose of the traditional injected vaccine, researchers report this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This arcticle was also posted on: naotechwire and naotech-now.
1 October, 2007
Giving Globally: The Search for Solutions - A Shot of Hope, Newsweek
A doctor, a banker, an engineer and a scientist are working separately – and together – to bring lifesaving vaccines to children around the world. How inspired individuals can take on and conquer some of the world’s biggest problems. Read More.
20 February, 2007
Drying a tuberculosis vaccine without freezing, PNAS – proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
With the increasing incidence of tuberculosis and drug resistant disease in developing countries due to HIV/AIDS, there is a need for vaccines that are more effective than the present bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine. We demonstrate that BCG vaccine can be dried without traditional freezing and maintained with remarkable refrigerated and room-temperature stability for months through spray drying. Read More.
1 April, 2005
Capreomycin is active against non-replicating M. tuberculosisAnnals of Clinical Microbiology andAntimicrobials - Leonid Heifets
Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is affecting one-third of the world population, and activation of LTBI is a substantial source of new cases of tuberculosis. LTBI is caused by tubercle bacilli in a state of non-replicating persistence (NRP), and the goal of this study was to evaluate the activity in vitro of various antimicrobial agents against non-replicating M. tuberculosis. Read More.