Michigan State University (MSU) researchers have received a new grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study viral fusion, a mechanism shared by influenza and HIV, with the goal of informing broadly protective vaccines and new antiviral therapies for both diseases. The project is led by David Weliky, PhD, a professor in MSU’s Department of Chemistry, and focuses on the molecular machinery that allows a virus to merge its membrane with a host cell and deliver its genetic material inside.1,2
Current Vaccines Leave Gaps in Protection
Seasonal influenza vaccines must be updated every year because the virus mutates rapidly, which limits how long a single dose can keep individuals protected.2 The 2025-2026 season underscored the stakes: preliminary CDC estimates indicate at least 32 million illnesses, 390,000 hospitalizations, and 24,000 deaths, and the agency classified the season as moderately severe.3
HIV, meanwhile, still has no effective vaccine. According to UNAIDS, approximately 41.0 million individuals worldwide were living with HIV in 2025, with 1.2 million new acquisitions and 570,000 deaths from AIDS-related illnesses that year. About 5.0 million individuals living with HIV did not know their status.4
Targeting a Conserved Viral Engine
Viral fusion occurs when the membranes of a virus and a host cell join together, allowing the virus’s genetic cargo to enter the cell and begin replicating.1 Because this machinery is essential to viral function, it changes very little between strains, which the investigators liken to the same engine appearing across many makes and models of vehicles.2
That stability is what makes fusion an appealing target. A vaccine capable of halting the shared machinery could, in theory, protect against multiple influenza subtypes for several years, even as the virus continues to mutate.1 The same principle could support a broadly effective HIV vaccine that targets fusion across many separate strains.2
