Purdue Dr. on forefront of H1N1 battle

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - In a few short weeks, thousands of Americans will be lining up to get vaccines for flu and H1N1.

It turns out that a scientist at Purdue University in West Lafayette named Dr. Suresh Mittal is working on the vaccine. In fact, his vaccine is in the hands of scientists the Centers for Disease Control right now, being tested.

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Dr. Mittal has valuable experience. The Purdue biologist worked on a bird flu vaccine back in 2002. Now he's concentrating on swine flu or H1N1.

Swine flu has been around for a long time. It was the virus that sickened millions and sent an estimated 675,000 Americans to their graves in 1918 and 1919 .

Health records from that time period show the first four civilian cases of influenza were reported in Indianapolis on September 30. By October 2, there were 200 cases and four deaths.

Globally, swine flu killed tens of millions. Today, that swine flu has mutated. Its proteins have changed and Dr. Mittal said most of us have no immunity to it.

"Its protein structure is significantly different from H1N1 virus, which is known to us," says Dr. Mittal. "That's the new part of it."

Dr. Mittal and his team, working out of several labs at Purdue's vet school, are coming up with what they hope will be an effective vaccine. They are starting with the H1N1 virus itself by selecting two genes from it.

After the two genes are selected, it's attached to another virus, called an adenovirus. The adenovirus is a transporter and can't replicate.

"That strain does not cause disease in humans," said Dr. Mittal. "It can get into the cell and deliver the genes. And that's it."

The adenovirus delivers the H1N1 genes to the human cells. The cell can then make proteins or antigens, which protect against the H1N1 virus. Dr. Mittal hopes his vaccine will be multi functional.

"If the virus mutates significantly and our vaccine still recognizes that virus, then we might like to use that vaccine in people, if possible," said Dr. Mittal. "Because, that vaccine may still be able to work against the mutated strain."

The work is tedious and different parts of the lab are dedicated to different stages of development.

The lab at Purdue handles different phases of the vaccine development. Serum from mice and blood from horses are used to see if the vaccine is working.

Dr. Mittal and his team should know in the coming weeks if his vaccine is effective. At the moment, his vaccine is in a 'bio-safety level 3' lab, that means it is under high security.

If the trials go well, his vaccine could be available by the end of the year or early next year.