Developing new vaccine technologies to counter complex parasitic pathogens

疫苗对传染病的控制和预防至关重要，疫苗技术的进步使人们能够研制出针对许多病毒和细菌的有效疫苗。然而，目前还没有针对寄生虫的高效和持久的亚单位疫苗。这是因为寄生虫有多个生命周期阶段，并且在每个阶段显示不同的蛋白质，但是由于传统疫苗开发方法的限制，大多数疫苗只关注一个靶点。本项目旨在探索和建立快速发展、适应不同疾病、能够同时靶向多种蛋白质的新型疫苗技术。在这项工作中，我们将以两种疟疾寄生虫蛋白为模型，探索mRNA和SpyTag/ spycatcher修饰的病毒样颗粒（vlp）两种疫苗技术的潜力，以快速开发可以同时靶向两种或更多蛋白质的疫苗。我们还希望建立一个新的疫苗平台——利用mRNA技术在宿主体内生产VLPs。这些方法将在临床前模型中进行测试，以评估它们对复杂寄生虫是否有效。通过开发快速和适应性强的疫苗技术，这项工作将加速未来疫苗的开发，以便在临床和兽医环境中迅速应对新的和现有的复杂疾病。BBSRC的优先领域：转化技术，生物科学对健康的综合理解，动物健康，生物科学的技术开发。这项研究将探索和建立新的和转化技术，用于快速和适应性强的疫苗开发。通过探索mRNA和SpyTag/SpyCatcher病毒样颗粒平台用于多价疫苗开发的潜力，本工作将采用新的策略来对抗快速进化和复杂的病原体。这些平台的适应性将有助于未来开发下一代疫苗，以有效预防和控制人类和动物传染病。

Vaccines are crucial for infectious disease control and prevention, and advancements in vaccine technology have enabled the development of effective vaccines against many viruses and bacteria. However, there are no highly effective and durable subunit vaccines against parasites. This is because parasites have multiple lifecycle stages and display different proteins at each stage, but most vaccines only focus on one target due to limitations in traditional vaccine development approaches. This project aims to explore and establish novel vaccine technologies that are fast to develop, adaptable to different diseases, and have the ability to target multiple proteins at the same time. In this work, by using two malaria parasite proteins as a model, we will explore the potential of two vaccine technologies- mRNA and SpyTag/SpyCatcher-decorated virus-like particles (VLPs), to rapidly develop vaccines that can target two or more proteins simultaneously. We also wish to establish a novel vaccine platform- to produce VLPs in the host using mRNA technology. These approaches will be tested in preclinical models to assess if they are effective against complex parasites. By developing rapid and adaptable vaccine technologies, this work will accelerate future vaccine development to rapidly cope with new and existing complex diseases in both clinical and veterinary settings.BBSRC priority areas: Transformative technologies, Bioscience for an integrated understanding of health, Animal Health, Technology development for the biosciences This research will explore and establish novel and transformative technologies for rapid and adaptable vaccine development. By exploring the potential of the mRNA and the SpyTag/SpyCatcher virus-like particle platforms for multivalent vaccine development, this work will employ novel strategies to combat rapidly evolving and complex pathogens. The adaptable nature of these platforms will contribute to future development of next generation vaccines for effective prevention and control of both human and animal infectious diseases.