Despite the success of vaccines in preventing many infectious diseases, effective vaccines against pathogens with ongoing challenges—such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis—remain unavailable. The emergence of new pathogen variants, the continued prevalence of existing pathogens, and the resurgence of yet other infectious agents motivate the need for new, interdisciplinary approaches to direct immune responses. Many current and candidate vaccines, for example, are poorly immunogenic, provide only transient protection, or create risks of regaining pathogenicity in certain immune-compromised conditions. Recent advances in biomaterials research are creating new potential to overcome these challenges through improved formulation, delivery, and control of immune signaling. At the same time, many of these materials systems—such as polymers, lipids, and self-assembly technologies—may achieve this goal while maintaining favorable safety profiles. This Perspective highlights ways in which biomaterials can advance existing vaccines to safer, more efficacious technologies, and support new vaccines for pathogens that do not yet have vaccines. Biomaterials that have not yet been applied to vaccines for infectious disease are also discussed, and their potential in this area is highlighted.

中文翻译：

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整合生物材料和免疫学来改进传染病疫苗

尽管疫苗在预防许多传染病方面取得了成功，但针对持续面临挑战的病原体（例如艾滋病毒、疟疾和结核病）的有效疫苗仍然无法获得。新病原体变体的出现、现有病原体的持续流行以及其他感染原的重新出现，激发了对新的跨学科方法来直接免疫反应的需求。例如，许多当前和候选疫苗的免疫原性很差，只能提供短暂的保护，或者在某些免疫受损的情况下产生恢复致病性的风险。生物材料研究的最新进展正在通过改进免疫信号的配方、递送和控制来创造克服这些挑战的新潜力。与此同时，许多这些材料系统——例如聚合物、脂质和自组装技术——可以实现这一目标，同时保持良好的安全性。本观点强调了生物材料如何将现有疫苗推进到更安全、更有效的技术，并支持针对尚未开发出疫苗的病原体的新疫苗。还讨论了尚未应用于传染病疫苗的生物材料，并强调了它们在该领域的潜力。