Researchers at Johnson & Johnson are one step closer to develop a universal flu vaccine that could work against a number of strains of influenza. The vaccine will act as a holy grail in the medical field that could eliminate the need of formulating a new vaccine every year.

A study conducted on mice and monkeys by the Scripps Research Institute and J&J's Janssen Pharmaceutical unit showed that a molecule designed in the lab to mimic a key part of the flu virus's attack could help to stay protected against multiple influenza strains.

Still, a lot of work has to be done by scientists to make the vaccine that works on humans, but findings of the study published online on Monday by the journal Science are just a ‘proof of principle’.

Scripps and J&J, during their study, targeted a protein on the surface of influenza, called hemagglutinin, which appears on all subtypes of flu and lets the virus enter cells in the body.

The researchers developed a molecule called, immunogen, that copies the structure of the protein, helping the body to recognize and be able to attack a fundamental component of the flu virus.

Ian Wilson, chairman of the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at Scripps, said, “These tests showed that antibodies elicited against one influenza subtype could protect against a different subtype”.

In addition, scientists at the US National Institutes of Health also published a study on Monday in the journal Nature Medicine which showed that animals were protected from the flu with a vaccine that was made up of nanoparticles to target part of the hemagglutinin protein.

Currently, scientists develop a new vaccine for each flu season. The development is based on predictions about which strains are likely to spread the most. Last year's seasonal flu vaccine in the US proved just 23 % effective against the illness, showed reports.