NOTE: this is being cross-posted from my Substack, "More is Different"

Vaccines can be distributed as a food. That's the radical implication of the work of Chris Buck, a scientist at the National Cancer Institute. This December, Chris consumed a beer he brewed in his home kitchen using genetically modified yeast. A few weeks later, a blood test showed a significant concentration of antibodies against a strain of BK polyomavirus (BKV), where previously he had none. His discovery flies in the face of much conventional thinking about oral vaccines.

Now, Buck thinks he can create yeast-based vaccines for a variety of viral diseases. If his vision pans out, you might be drinking a beer or eating yeast chips to protect yourself during the next outbreak. Moreover, you may be doing so just weeks after the outbreak starts, rather than waiting months or years for drug-approval processes to play out. The regulations around food-grade genetically modified yeast are much easier to navigate than the regulations around vaccines and other drug products.

While Buck's feat might have the appearance of a gonzo biohacking experiment, it is actually the culmination of about fifteen years of work.

What is BK polyomavirus (BKV)?

For [...]

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Outline:

(01:37) What is BK polyomavirus (BKV)?

(02:28) The first BKV vaccine

(04:01) The big surprise

(04:57) Self-experimentation isn't allowed at NIH?!

(06:05) The self-experiment

(08:12) Previous oral vaccines

(10:12) Oral tolerance and other challenges

(11:51) Implications for medical research

(13:10) Yeast-based vaccines should reduce vaccine hesitancy

(15:52) Implications for pandemic preparedness

(20:15) What's next?

(20:52) Further reading:

The original text contained 6 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
February 7th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JqyTfdsKAuoBarP7F/beers-for-biodefense-why-yeast-based-vaccines-are

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

The beer was a “Lithuanian-style farmhouse ale”. Emilia Vasiliunaite, a Fulbright scholar in Buck’s lab who provided the original VP1 yeast strain, is from Lithuania.

Line graph showing antibody levels over time for three virus subtypes with error bars.

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″“Beers for Biodefense” - why yeast-based vaccines are potentially a big deal for biosecurity” by delton137

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

″“Beers for Biodefense” - why yeast-based vaccines are potentially a big deal for biosecurity” by delton137