Public defence 8.5.2026 Saana Soppela: Engineered virus-like particles open new possibilities for combating enteroviruses

This doctoral dissertation investigated whether structurally engineered virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines mimicking the enterovirus Coxsackievirus B1 can induce a protective immune response against infection, while also improving vaccine safety and production yield. The vaccine candidates developed in this study showed significantly higher production yields compared to traditional inactivated virus vaccines, demonstrated excellent stability, and elicited a strong protective immune response against infection. The results indicate that a VLP-based approach provides a novel, safe, and scalable strategy for enterovirus vaccine development, with potential applicability to other clinically important enteroviruses.