The glyco-interactome of pathogenic Neisseria: understanding disease and defining vaccine targets

为了感染人类并引起疾病，许多细菌依赖于与人类细胞上的碳水化合物（糖）结构的相互作用。该项目旨在研究使脑膜炎奈瑟菌（导致脑膜炎，败血症）和淋病奈瑟菌（导致淋病，与不孕症和艾滋病毒传播增加有关）致病的糖相互作用。这将增加我们对宿主-病原体相互作用的理解，并有助于开发新的疫苗和治疗方法。

In order to infect humans and cause disease, many bacteria rely on interactions with carbohydrate (sugar) structures on human cells. This project aims to characterise the sugar interactions that enable Neisseria meningitidis (causes meningitis, sepsis) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (causes gonorrhoea, associated with infertility and increased transmission of HIV) to cause disease. This will increase our understanding of host-pathogen interactions and aid development of new vaccines and therapeutics.