Developed in the lab of Seattle BioMed’s Stefan Kappe, Ph.D., a promising genetically attenuated whole parasite (GAP) malaria vaccine candidate has proven 100 percent protective, 100 percent of the time, in mouse studies. Through precise deletion of two key genes in the malaria parasite, Kappe and his team have developed a live vaccine that gives protection and yields accurate, reproducible results over time.

In the past, this approach to vaccine development – using a weakened form of the whole organism that causes a particular disease – has proven successful in eradicating smallpox, as well as controlling diseases such as flu and polio.

In 2010, Seattle BioMed moved the malaria GAP vaccine model "from mice to men" and began challenging humans with the vaccine at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), a longtime collaborator with Seattle BioMed.