David Koelle receives grant to support herpes simplex virus vaccine development

Washington Research Foundation (WRF) has awarded a $275,000 technology commercialization grant to Dr. David Koelle, professor  (Allergy and Infectious Diseases) at the University of Washington. The funding will support the continued development of a novel messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutic vaccine aimed at improving treatment options for patients with genital herpes. This follows a previous $100,000 grant from WRF in 2024 that supported early-stage research on the project.

Genital herpes, caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV), affects about 20% of people aged 15 to 49 worldwide. The virus exists as two species: HSV-1 and HSV-2. It is highly contagious, spreading primarily through sexual contact and skin-to-skin transmission, including from mother to infant during childbirth. The condition can cause painful outbreaks, significantly impacting the patient’s quality of life and increasing healthcare costs and burden. HSV-2, in particular, is associated with recurrent genital symptoms, elevates the risk of HIV transmission and can be severe in immunocompromised individuals.

Current treatments can reduce recurrences of genital HSV-2 outbreaks by around 90% but cannot eliminate what is at present a lifelong condition. Transmission of HSV-2 to sexual partners is only reduced by 50% with current treatment.

With initial support from WRF, Koelle and his team developed a prototype mRNA vaccine incorporating a novel epitope combination that triggers a strong cytotoxic (CD8) T cell response. These immune cells play a critical role in identifying and destroying virus-infected cells, making them a promising target for therapeutic intervention. Early research indicates that the vaccine elicits a more robust immune response than existing therapies, with the potential to prevent recurrent outbreaks and to reduce person-to-person transmission. No current genital herpes treatments specifically target CD8 T cell activation.

The epitopes selected for the vaccine are designed to be effective across 98% of the human population and are particularly well-suited for mRNA delivery. The team is initially focusing on HSV-2 due to its higher prevalence in genital herpes and its stronger association with recurrent symptoms compared with HSV-1.

“We are very thankful for seed and continuing support from the WRF,” Koelle said. “This has enabled us to leverage decades of NIH support to discover candidate epitopes. We have filtered and linked these and begun to cross the translational threshold by building and testing prototypes. In the phase 2 award, we will add to the vaccine composition and document homing of relevant vaccine immune responses to locations in the body where they are needed. Our goal is a data package to entrain resources for the next critical stages of pre-clinical development to move towards first-in-humans and ultimately a functional cure for genital herpes.”

Meher Antia, Ph.D., WRF’s director of grant programs, said, “We are delighted to continue support for this project. While WRF’s funding will enable Dr. Koelle to bring this much-needed treatment for genital herpes closer to the clinic, we would not have been in the position to fund this work without the foundation of outstanding science that was supported through federal research awards from the NIH.”

The new grant will enable Koelle’s team to refine the vaccine over the next 18 months, optimizing immune response while minimizing off-target effects. The funding will also support the generation of additional in vivo data using rodent models, advancing the vaccine toward future clinical development.

About Washington Research Foundation

Washington Research Foundation (WRF) supports research and scholarship in Washington state, with a focus on life sciences and enabling technologies.

WRF was founded in 1981 to assist universities and other nonprofit research institutions in Washington with the commercialization and licensing of their technologies. WRF became one of the foremost technology transfer organizations in the nation, earning more than $445 million in licensing revenue for the University of Washington. To date, WRF has provided over $175 million in grants to the state’s research institutions.

WRF Capital, the investment vehicle for Washington Research Foundation, has backed 132 local startups since 1996. Returns support the Foundation’s grantmaking and investment programs.

For additional information, please visit wrfseattle.org.