Dr Heiser says the project "utilises the core nano-particle technology of PolyBatics developed by Professor Bernd Rehm at Massey University, with whom we have an ongoing collaboration". "He showed how you could genetically modify bacteria to make little beads inside them which express antigens that work as a vaccine. This has worked with the model bacterium E. coli, and this grant enables us to take the concept beyond that and do it with an important pathogen."

"If we can prove our hypothesis that biobeads produced in mycobacteria can be used as a novel type of vaccine against mycobacterial infections, including tuberculosis, we could apply this approach to a whole range of infectious diseases," he says.