Forty-eight volunteers are taking part in a ground-breaking clinical trial in Halifax for what could become the last flu shot people ever need. Rather than inventing a flu vaccine, researchers at the Université Laval hope to improve the protection of existing vaccines with the addition of nanoparticles (PAL), a technology derived from the coat protein of a plant virus (papaya mosaic virus). Tests showed the PAL vaccine adjuvant – which is essentially a booster for vaccines —provided broad protection against seasonal flu influenza strains in animal models. This low-cost vaccine technology, developed in academia with Canadian Institutes of Health Research funding, is being commercialized through Folia Biotech Inc. in Quebec City and the Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise Inc. (PREVENT).