How a mother's antibodies affect newborn flu vaccine protection
Official title: The interplay of maternal antibody and newborn vaccine responses
Funded at Wake Forest University Health Sciences · NIH-11322702 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how antibodies passed from pregnant people to their babies change how infants respond to flu vaccination so newborns can be better protected.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Wake Forest University Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Winston-Salem, United States) |
| Project start | April 17, 2025 |
| Project end | March 31, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $766,671 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AI189601-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11322702 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates would be pregnant people and their newborns, particularly infants under six months of age whose protection depends on antibodies received from the mother.
✕Less likely to help
Older children, adults, or infants beyond the early vulnerability window who are already eligible for standard vaccination would not be the focus and are unlikely to benefit directly from this newborn-focused work.
What this research studies
If you are pregnant or have a newborn, this work studies how the antibodies you pass to your baby before birth affect the baby's response to flu vaccines. Researchers will measure antibody levels transferred across the placenta and follow how those maternal antibodies change the infant's immune reactions after vaccination. They will use models that closely mimic human maternal antibody transfer and examine immune responses over time to find vaccination timing or methods that let babies build their own protection as maternal antibody fades. The overall aim is to reduce the vulnerable window when very young infants are at high risk for severe flu.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lead to vaccine timing or approaches that help infants develop lasting protection against influenza even when they start life with maternal antibodies.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work shows maternal antibodies can both protect infants and sometimes interfere with infant vaccine responses, and strategies to overcome that interference have shown mixed but promising results.
Where this research is happening
-
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
Winston-Salem, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Alexander-Miller, Martha Ann — Wake Forest University Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Alexander-Miller, Martha Ann
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.