iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Excited that our work to mature a new vaccine and therapeutics platform, with application of the technology to an important tick borne disease, is getting some recognition. Of course, where the rubber meets the road is in the data. More to come on that soon! www.prnewswire.com/news-release...

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

11/ In a mouse challenge model, repRNA-delivered VHH-Fc significantly reduced viral titers (lung + nasal cavity) in a dose-dependent manner compared to an irrelevant repRNA-VHH control, outperforming VHH monomer or dimeric IgA formats

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

10/ We then closed the loop with RNA delivery. repRNA encoding VHH or VHH-Fc and delivered with LION via IM route demonstrated: 1) rapid in vivo expression, 2) detectable serum levels within a day, and 3) functional neutralization activity

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

9/ With the Kuhn lab, we obtained a 1.4 Å structure: G12 VHH binds the VP1 canyon region, engaging BC, EF, and GH antigenic loops near a conserved functional site, where the bulky Fc domain likely contributes to steric hindrance. The spheres in the map below represent the binding footprint of G12

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

8/ Addition of the IgG1 Fc domain surprisingly increased breadth with sub 0.3nM IC50 measured across all 6 subclades.

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

7/ However, the monovalent G12 VHH only exhibited strong neutralization against the B1 and B2 subclades:

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

6/ High-throughput screening of phage libraries identified multiple binders and a subset of neutralizers, with G12 emerging as a standout.

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

5/ To build the front end of the workflow: We worked with the Shoemaker lab at Tufts University to immunize alpacas with a hexavalent vaccine (each encoding EV-D68 VLPs) covering the 6 subclades of EV-D68, inducing cross-clade neutralizing responses.

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

3/ In that prior work, we identified that canonical IgG formats are not ideal for RNA expression in vivo. Here we show that removing the CH1 domain (moving to compact formats like scFv/VHH-Fc) significantly boosts expression, likely by avoiding BiP retention during expression/folding.

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

1/ 🧪 New paper out in @moltherapy.bsky.social: An RNA-to-RNA pipeline for rapid antiviral antibody development. www.cell.com/molecular-th... The goal was to use RNA vaccines to enable antibody discovery in alpacas and then develop those antibodies as RNA-encoded biologics

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Seems heads are already rolling.

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

In fig 5 of the 🔗 paper, I compared the durability of protective immunity elicited by same doses of the exact same virus/vaccine (non replicating). One was inactivated with formalin (open circles); the other was not (closed circles). Inactivation killed durability. www.nature.com/articles/nm....

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

I noticed this statement from NIH regarding durability of the inactivated approach. I didn’t see any durability data in the published studies of this candidate. Anyone aware of durability studies performed using inactivated virus platforms? I did one experiment in grad school (in thread below).

STAT did receive a comment —
"attributable to the NIH" - that offered a defense of the funding decision. It signaled, however, a lack of clarity about what the project is aiming to achieve, saying vaccines made ising the platform "could provide broad, long-lasting protection against all influenza viral pathogens, including influenza and coronaviruses, with the added potential to block transmission and stop outbreaks at the source." Coronaviruses are not "influenza viral pathogens."

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Don’t get me wrong, I’m appalled by what this administration is doing to science. But I think there is something else going on here. Whatever happened will undoubtedly get politicized though.

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Beautiful day to stand up for science!

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Vashon island struggling to roll out of bed this morning.

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Visiting the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Einstein on a clear, freezing cold day today. Looking forward to the discussions!

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

New paper from Amit Khandhar’s team at HDT Bio demonstrating that our LION/repRNA platform can be thermostabilized by lyophilization, enabling refrigerator stability for at least 1 year! Clear implications for global access to vaccines based on our technology. authors.elsevier.com/c/1k6n4cI2-5...

Graphical abstract of the published manuscript.

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Regarding the potential req. for getting vaccine antigen to mucosal surfaces to induce protective mucosal immunity, I just want to post this figure from one of our recent pubs. We show, following IM RNA vaccination, differential protection of the upper airway that was dependent on formulation (C).

Figure from a publication showing a formulation-dependent protection of the upper airway of mice despite lack of detectable differences in serum neutralizing antibody titers.

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

Just logged back in and see things are quite lively here! Here’s a picture of some #bluesky from the recent plus strand virus meeting in Ireland. I’ll try to post more updates from my team as we continue to advance repRNA vaccines against emerging infectious diseases. #virology #RNAsky

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 27/10/2023

A lot of good science happening in India and a great venue for the annual Indo-US vaccine action program meeting.

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/09/2023

Had a great time last week reconnecting with old friends at UTMB and speaking at the GSBS research expo. An excellent environment for infectious disease research. Just gotta love humidity and the occasional flying cockroach.

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