About us

About the Nanovaccine Institute

Established at Iowa State University in 2017, the Nanovaccine Institute represents a national, transdisciplinary research consortium to advance nano-based technologies to treat and prevent disease.

Mission

Revolutionize how we prevent and treat disease.

Vision

The Nanovaccine Institute will lead efforts to design and promote nano-based vaccines and therapeutics that can transform public health outcomes for a wide range of diseases on a global scale.

Values

Our core values reflect those of Iowa State University which include:

  • Respect
  • Purpose
  • Cooperation
  • Richness of Diversity
  • Freedom from Discrimination
  • Access
  • Excellence
  • Integrity
  • Honest and Respectful Expression of Ideas

Our Purpose

The Nanovaccine Institute was founded at Iowa State University building upon core partnerships with the University of Iowa and the University of Nebraska Medical Center but has connections with public institutions and private industries across the United States through a consortium of members. Our purpose is to use nano-based technologies to tackle emergent diseases that have a devastating impact on human and animal health.

Focus Areas:

  • Respiratory Infections
  • Antimicrobial Resistance
  • Neural Disorders
  • Cancer
  • Aging
  • Animal Health

We use a transdisciplinary approach to transform the design and manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutics that integrates nanotechnology, materials science, immunology, oncology, neuroscience, microbiology, clinical science, and social science. Nanovaccines and nanomedicines developed by the Nanovaccine Institute are designed to encompass bedside-to-bench-and-back considerations including supply chain economics and health equity on a global scale.

The Nanovaccine Institute aspires to lead innovative research that is also centered on student development and training to foster the next generation of groundbreaking scientists in public health-related subject areas. This includes creating and providing appropriate infrastructure for high-impact research, mentorship, and outreach.

Our objectives are to:

  • Serve as a scientific platform for collaborative transdisciplinary research aimed at producing efficacious, safe, and readily deployable therapies for existing and emerging diseases through novel nanovaccines and nanotherapeutics.
  • Deploy therapies to the market using public-private partnerships that translate promising approaches from laboratory-scale research studies to clinical trials via collaborations with industry, contract research organizations, and medical schools to commercialize emerging technologies.
  • Establish Infrastructure to aggressively pursue a diversified portfolio of external funding, facilitated by expert grant writing and grant administration support to faculty teams for large-scale, multi-investigator research proposals.