Use of Streptococcus gordonii as a live oral vaccine vehicle

We are attempting to make a live oral vaccine against whooping cough. The research is to use genetic means to make a bacterium called Streptococcus gordonii that normally lives in the human mouth into a vaccine. The ability of this vaccine bacteria to induce immunity and protection against infection by the whooping bacterium will be tested in mice. The vaccine bacterium can colonize the mouth for a long time therefore it has the potential of becoming a very cheap vaccine that can be given orally and without the need of needles.