- Burnett School College of Medicine Faculty News
Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences researcher Dr. Kai McKinstry was featured on Fox News Orlando and its nationwide affiliates last week. He is working on developing a flu shot that we only need to have once a lifetime.
Dr. McKinstry’s approach is to tackle the virus by targeting T-cells to fight the flu virus rather than antibodies, so the vaccine could last a lifetime and eliminate the need for annual shots.
The idea is that T-cells can remember the virus and will automatically fight any flu strain entering the body.
Currently, experts predict which flu strains will be prevalent each year, and at most, are only 60 percent accurate, or as low as 10 percent for this season.
Ideally this vaccine would be ‘one-and-done’ vaccine, or require a single additional boost like childhood vaccines, rather than an annual formulation like our current flu vaccine.
Click here to view the feature as it appeared on FOX 35.
http://www.fox35orlando.com/news/local-news/ucf-medical-researchers-working-on-flu-shot-that-would-last-a-lifetime
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- Burnett burnett school burnett school of biomedical sciences flu flu shot flu vaccine Kai McKinstry Mckinstry Research vaccine