THANKS, DR. FAUCI!:

Investors in the nearly five-year-old startup have topped off a previously announced financing with an additional $45 million, bringing the total to $97 million, Strand told the Globe. The funds will help Strand start a clinical trial of its first experimental medicine, a cancer immunotherapy, likely in the second half of 2023.

The new money comes as anticipation builds for companies to prove that the COVID-19 vaccines were not one-hit wonders for mRNA technology. More than a dozen Massachusetts companies are developing mRNA-based medicines, which use the short-lived genetic molecule to produce a therapeutic protein.

The potential applications are vast. Cambridge-based Moderna already has more than 40 mRNA programs underway for cancer, genetic conditions, and infectious diseases. Yet several smaller and newer companies, Strand included, believe that a second generation of mRNA technologies is needed to broaden the genetic molecule's reach.

"Messenger RNA has the potential to revolutionize medicine," Becraft said.

Imagine a single dose of vaccine that prepares your body to fight every known strain of influenza -- a so-called universal flu vaccine that scientists have tried to create for decades.

A new study describes successful animal tests of just such a vaccine, offering hope that the country can be protected against future flu pandemics. Like the COVID vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the experimental flu vaccine relies on mRNA.

It is in early stages -- tested only in mice and ferrets -- but the vaccine provides important proof that a single shot could be used against an entire family of viruses. 

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