Pure M2e does not elicit strong immune reactions when injected as a vaccine, so all groups have attached M2e to molecules that do provoke a strong response.

While there is no final grade, there is a final project, and Ms. Batkin and six classmates came up with an idea that is pure Bard: a dance performance that illustrates how an influenza vaccine works.

"We take Aloe vera leaves and put them through a series of complex extraction steps to produce a chemically pure powder, and then we combine the flu vaccine with it, " he explains.