Penn Research Modifies COVID Vaccines to Target C. Diff

The same technology pioneered at Penn Medicine that saved millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic appears to hold promise against another challenging infectious disease, C. diff, according to new research led by Joseph Zackular, PhD, an assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. By modifying the same mRNA vaccines that had targeted the COVID-19 virus to instead attack all fronts of the C. diff bacteria, Zackular and his team saw strong and lasting protection in mice who had significant C. diff infections in what Zackular called “a really nice proof of principle.”