Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in the November 2007 issue of JAMA that conventional vaccines have cut disease deaths by 99%, but have been limited to only 13 disease targets.  DNA vaccines, on the other hand, have been touted as some day preventing or curing cancer, AIDS and a litany of other infectious diseases.  But the promise of DNA vaccines has been thwarted by a lack of an effective delivery vehicle.  In fact, delivering DNA vaccine inside targeted cells has proven to be a formidable challenge.  Now, there is growing evidence that suggests vaccine delivery via electroporation might be the answer.  In this episode, we speak with Dr. Christian Ottensmeier, Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine and Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, one of the UK’s foremost research universities.  Dr. Ottensmeier is Principal Investigator for an ongoing Phase I/II clinical study that has two arms: without, and with, the use of  Inovio Biomedical’s electroporation system to deliver DNA vaccine to subjects with prostate cancer. This is an academic study using a vaccine developed at the University of Southampton with the support of the Leukemia Research Fund and Cancer Research UK.Dr.  Ottensmeier reported early human data from his study at this year’s AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) annual meeting—data which suggest that use of electroporation to enhance the potency and delivery of DNA Vaccines has significant potential.