SemiNex Corp. has received a $146,905 Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop small laser devices to enhance immune responses to vaccines.

Existing lasers used to enhance immune responses to vaccines are large and expensive, and scientists who work with vaccines do not have ready access to technical assistance, the company said. The grant will enable the development of smaller lasers and allow testing device kits to be sent to laboratories working on new vaccines.

SemiNex is collaborating with Dr. Satoshi Kashiwagi of the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital; he discovered that treatment of the skin with certain IR lasers promotes better immune responses to vaccines.

For more information, visit www.seminex.com.