Brittany Hartwell awarded Michelson Prize for innovation in immunology and vaccine research
February 6, 2023 — Department of Biomedical Engineering Assistant Professor Brittany Hartwell has been awarded a 2022 Michelson Prize. She is one of only four researchers worldwide to win the award, given by the Michelson Medical Research Foundation and the Human Immunome Project.
The award honors early-career investigators who “represent the next generation of innovators in human immunology and vaccine research.” Prof. Hartwell and the other winners will each receive $150,000 to support their research and will be honored at a virtual award ceremony on March 24.
Prof. Hartwell’s project aims to develop targeted vaccines that protect against diseases such as HIV and COVID-19. Specifically, she’ll engineer intranasal vaccines that use a strategy of “albumin hitchhiking” to overcome mucosal barriers in the nose in order to promote stronger mucosal immunity, or “frontline” immune protection.
The proposal is related to her ongoing work on vaccines delivered through mucosal tissues, paving the way for further study and development of intranasal vaccines.
Other winners of the 2022 Michelson Prize are Noam Auslander (The Wistar Institute), Jenna Guthmiller (University of Colorado), and Romain Guyon (University of Oxford).