One-Time Delivery of Bovine Tuberculosis Vaccine (Engineering of Polymer-Based Biomaterials)

Nearly all vaccines including bovine tuberculosis (TB) vaccine require repeated administration for maintenance of immunity. This means follow up visits from vet and higher cost of vaccination. To eliminate the need for follow up booster shot administration, a new delivery system is being developed based on resorb-able and biocompatible polymers. These polymeric biomaterials will be loaded by TB booster shot and will be implanted in the bovine at the time of first vaccine administration. These implants must possess well-controlled physical properties to be able to release their payload in specific time window. Synthesis and characterization of these polymeric biomaterials as well as manufacturing techniques for production of these implants will be discussed in this talk.