Both are part of research efforts aimed at countering threats from genetically altered bioweapons, mutating viruses and increasingly hard-to-treat bacterial infections.

In Boston a team is studying whether a harmless burst of laser light can boost the effectiveness of a vaccination — a technique that could potentially stretch supplies of vaccine in an emergency.

The team uses a device to illuminate a small patch of skin with rapid pulses of carefully calibrated light. Though there is no damage from the laser, it stresses the tissue, triggering the body’s immune cells to concentrate at the spot. Then, when a vaccine is injected into the same spot, the assembled immune cells react, creating more antibodies and greater resistance to infection.

“Every vaccine we have tested has been boosted 300 to 1,000 percent,” said Dr. Jeffrey Gefland, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the chief scientific officer at Boston BioCom. The firm is studying the technology in cooperation with Massachusetts General Hospital and plans to modify an already approved medical laser to speed tests on the concept. He presented his team’s findings at Infocast Inc.’s Eighth Annual Biodefense Vaccines and Therapeutics conference this week in Washington.

Though results are preliminary, the laser appears to be effective on a wide variety of vaccines. It may even be useful in preventing cancer by boosting protection from cancer vaccines that are currently not effective enough by themselves, Gefland told The Washington Examiner.

John Glass, a professor at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, said the technique was “rational” though it was hard to judge because test results are limited.

Still, he told The Examiner, “The immunological data certainly suggests that they are on to something.”

Other teams are working on compounds that may be able to halt infections in their tracks. One approach aims to prevent bacteria from absorbing iron from the body, effectively stopping them from multiplying. The technique, being developed by Syntiron in St. Paul, Minn., may work to both prevent and treat bacteria infections — which would be particularly valuable as the effectiveness of current antibiotics dwindles.

Another approach would use iminosugars — compounds in the same family as sugars found in mulberry leaves — to combat viral infections. Research by scientists at Unither Virology in Vermont, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics in Silver Spring, suggests that certain iminosugars can stop viruses from reproducing in a cell by interfering with their manipulation of the cell’s proteins.

Though the work is preliminary, the approach appears safe and effective so far against a range of viruses including those causing H1N1 flu and Dengue fever.

The research eventually could lead to an aspirin-size pill that “you can keep in your pocket” and use when you need it, Unither Chief Scientist Urban Ramstedt told the attendees at this week’s conference.