Leigh Kay Jahnke

Ms. Leigh Kay Jahnke


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

2Years (2025-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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28 March 2025 in Vaccines
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MPMatthew Pekarek
Matthew Pekarek
EPErika Michele Petro-Turnquist
Erika Michele Petro-Turnquist
NJNicholas E. Jeanjaquet
Nicholas E. Jeanjaquet
KHKristine V. Hoagstrom
Kristine V. Hoagstrom
ELEnzo Giovanni LaMontia-Hankin
Enzo Giovanni LaMontia-Hankin
EWEric A. Weaver
Eric A. Weaver
The genetic diversity of influenza A virus is a major obstacle that makes vaccine effectiveness variable and unpredictable. Objectives: Current vaccines induce strain-specific immunity that oftentimes fail to protect against divergent strains. Our previous research explored synthetic centralized consensus (CC) vaccines to minimize immunogen-strain divergence and focused on the viral glycoprotein hemagglutinin. Methods: Recently, emerging evidence of neuraminidase (NA)-mediated immunity has shifted vaccine strategies, prompting our development of a CC NA type 1 (N1CC) vaccine based on ancestral N1 sequences and delivered using a human adenovirus type 5 vector Results: The N1CC vaccine elicited antibody responses with NA inhibition activity and induced NA-specific T-cell responses. In lethal influenza challenge models, N1CC fully protected mice from death against human, swine, and avian influenza H1N1 and H5N1 strains. Conclusions: These findings support NA as a protective immunogen and demonstrate the power and efficacy of a centralized consensus NA design.