The novel vaccine concept originated in the laboratory of David Mooney, the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at SEAS. Together with his group at the Wyss Institute, Mooney and colleagues advanced the novel immunotherapy solution through a series of foundational studies.

In addition to developing the capabilities needed to fabricate the biomaterial vaccines, Mooney’s group, in collaboration with that of Dr. Glenn Dranoff, who at the time was a Wyss Associate Faculty member and co-leader of Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s Cancer Vaccine Center, had carried out extensive preclinical studies to demonstrate the approach’s efficacy.