Adjuvants are compounds added to animal vaccines to help stimulate the immune system, boosting their effectiveness. Many aluminum-based nonbiodegradable adjuvants may cause inflammation at the vaccine site that may persist for months and diminish the quality of livestock meat in food animal.
Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana discovered another possible adjuvant in teeny, tiny nanoparticles derived from a variety of sweet corn. They found that the new adjuvant stimulates the immune response and has a much briefer period of inflammation that eventually disappears. The new nanoparticle-based adjuvant is biodegradable and inexpensive.
NIFA supports the research through the Hatch Act.
Read about this research in Nature.
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