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"<p>A Massachusetts startup that uses nanotechnology to engineer  safer and more effective vaccines is expected to say April 5 that it has raised  another $15 million in venture capital to finance the further development of its  products according to the Boston Globe.</p><br /><p>Selecta Biosciences Inc., which uses technology developed at  the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School, has raised  more than $30 million since it was launched about two years ago.</p><br /><p>Selecta uses nanotechnology &mdash; which builds devices and  structures at a scale that is one-thousandth the width of a human hair &mdash; to  create synthetic particles that mimic viruses and trigger the body&rsquo;s immune  responses to protect against disease.</p><br /><p>The nanoparticles, made from biodegradable materials similar to  those used in sutures that dissolve, have advantages over traditional vaccines  that use inactive viruses to trigger the immune response, Selecta officials  said.</p><br /><p>The nanoparticles, for example, can precisely target immune  cells to prompt a stronger response by the body&rsquo;s defenses.</p><br /><p>&ldquo;You are mimicking nature&rsquo;s way of dealing with infectious  agents,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Robert L. Bratzler, Selecta&rsquo;s CEO. &ldquo;We have some very exciting  technology that has the potential to leapfrog biological vaccines.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><br /><p>Selecta is still years away from putting a product on the  market. It must go through clinical trials to win approval from the Food and  Drug Administration. Company officials said they hope to begin the first of  three phases of trials next year.</p>"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://vaccinenewsdaily.com/stories/510530862-selecta-raises-15-million-to-advance-potential-vaccine>