Genomics in Vaccine Development

Almost a century after Edward Jenner’s groundbreaking work with the smallpox vaccine, the process of vaccine design was formalized by Louis Pasteur in 1880. His basic paradigm for vaccine development included the isolation, inactivation and injection of the causative microorganism. These are the basic principles which have guided vaccine development throughout the twentieth century [1]. Modern vaccinology began in mid-twentieth century based largely on breakthroughs in cell culture, bacterial polysaccharide chemistry, molecular biology and immunology [2]. Most of the successful vaccines of today were developed using this traditional, empiric approach. The eradication of smallpox (worldwide cases reduced from 2 million per year in 1959 to zero in 1978)[3], as well as an estimated two to three million deaths averted every year from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), and measles