Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed mice that can secret an experimental malaria vaccine into their milk. The vaccine has proven effective in protecting laboratory monkeys from the malaria parasite, says a press release.

The technique relies upon transgenic animals, which are so named because they contain a gene, called a transgene, from another individual or organism.

If the procedure can be scaled up to larger milk-producing animals such as goats and cattle, it could provide a means of producing large quantities of low-cost, highly effective vaccines against malaria.