Yale Researcher Named One of the Top 100 Worldwide in Health Science; Focusing on Nasal Vaccines to Block Infections Including COVID

Dr. Akiko Iwasaki is a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Her research focuses on the mechanisms of immune defense against viruses at mucosal surfaces, and the development of mucosal vaccine strategies. She is the co-Lead Investigator of the Yale COVID-19 Recovery Study, which aims to determine the changes in the immune response of people with long COVID after vaccination.

Her work is gaining notice beyond the confines of Yale.

TIME magazine’s first-ever Health 100 issue, published in May, included brief profiles of the “pioneers, leaders, catalysts, innovators and titans making lives healthier and the world more hopeful.”  Among the select group of leaders is Akiko Iwasaki.  Her efforts to develop “a better booster” were highlighted.

The magazine noted that “current COVID-19 vaccines keep people who catch the virus from getting very sick or dying, but they cannot block infections completely – or prevent Long-COVID.”

Iwasaki and her colleagues “are developing booster doses administered nasally, which could ideally stop infections before they start, since the virus often enters the body through the nose,” the magazine’s write-up explained.

In 2021, Iwasaki co-founded a company, Xanadu Bio, TIME pointed out, “that is trying to bring nasal vaccines for COVID-19, the flu, and RSV to market.”  She is listed as the Chief Preclinical Advisor and Co-founder of the company.

A journal article on the research, co-authored by Iwasaki and which appeared in Science Translation Medicine last fall, earned this editor’s note:  “The ability to efficiently deliver mRNA to the lung would have applications for vaccine development, gene therapy, and more. … These results highlight the potential of this delivery system for vaccine applications and beyond.”

Iwasaki also leads multiple other studies to interrogate the pathobiology of long COVID, both in patients, and through developing animal models of long COVID, her company bio explains.   The website Medscape features an interview of Iwasaki last month by Eric J. Topol, MD, author of the  “Ground Truths” newsletter and podcast.  He said of Iwasaki:   

“If there's one person you'd want to talk to about immunology, the immune system and COVID, holes in our knowledge base about the complex immune system, and where the field is headed, it would be Professor Iwasaki. And add to that the topic of Women in Science. Here's our wide-ranging conversation.”

She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2018, to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019, to the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2021, and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021, and has authored numerous articles on her research work.

Iwasaki received the Connecticut Medal of Science in 2023 from the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.  She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in Canada and conducted her postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health.