Photo By Aleece Williams | SILVER SPRING, Md. (Nov. 19, 2025) Researchers with Naval Medical Research Command...... read more read more
SILVER SPRING, Md. – Researchers at Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) submitted a provisional patent for a nanoparticle vaccine to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on September 9. This vaccine development method is intended to prevent malaria but can also be used to develop vaccines against pathogens that develop in the liver.
NMRC researchers study various infectious diseases that pose a threat to deployed warfighter health and readiness, to include malaria.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease contracted from being bitten by an infected mosquito and is most common in tropical areas. Developing a safe and effective malaria vaccine will benefit warfighter health by providing a line of defense against malaria, allowing them to safely and effectively support their mission.
“Just last year, 30 active and reserve service members were diagnosed with or reported to have malaria,” said Martha Sedegah, NMRC director of Clinical Immunology and Parasitology, Agile Vaccines and Therapeutics Department. “When service members go out, they are confronted with unique challenges caused by the diseases in deployed environments, and we are developing preventive treatments to mitigate these challenges.”
Researchers look forward to using this vaccine development model to develop similar preventive vaccines for other infectious diseases such as Lassa fever, SARS-CoV-2 and influenza. Lassa fever is a viral illness that is commonly found in West Africa and is a health concern. One in every five infections result in severe disease, including death. It can be contracted through contact with infected rodents, rodent excretions or person-to-person transmission.
While many of these infectious diseases are preventable and curable, they can go undetected for weeks. Even if an illness goes undetected, it is still transmissible therefore posing a risk to those deployed or working in close quarters. Developing a vaccine against these harmful diseases can minimize initial illness, decreasing the likelihood of secondary illnesses, time away from work, lost time with family, etc.
“Malaria continues to cause an increasing medical concern for service members traveling to endemic regions while on leave, as 40% of malaria cases in 2024 occurred during non-duty travel,” said Sedegah. “For service members traveling to malaria-endemic regions, pre-travel medication regimes should be emphasized.”
Submitting a provisional patent is the first step in ensuring the science of this vaccine development is protected from any entity duplicating or creating a similar product. Benefits of filing a provisional patent are establishing a patent application filing date for the invention and the ability for the inventor to deem their product, “patent pending." Once researchers obtain the patent for this vaccine, they will be able to collaborate with other researchers.
NMRC researchers frequently partner with other Navy Medicine Research & Development (NMR&D) commands stationed in various regions such as Africa. For infectious diseases common in tropical areas like Ghana, NMRC collaborates with Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) EURAFCENT to bolster their studies and share new findings.
“We are excited to work and collaborate with our teams overseas such as NAMRU EURAFCENT in Ghana who we collaborate with to do meaningful research.”
NMRC, headquarters of NMR&D, is engaged in a broad spectrum of activity from basic science in the laboratory to field studies in austere and remote areas of the world to investigations in operational environments. In support of Navy, Marine Corps and joint U.S. warfighter health, readiness and lethality, researchers study infectious diseases, biological warfare detection and defense, combat casualty care, environmental health concerns, aerospace and undersea medicine, operational mission support and epidemiology.
| Date Taken: | 11.20.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2025 13:28 |
| Story ID: | 551929 |
| Location: | SILVER SPRING , MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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