Objective
The aim of this project is to improve our understanding of the role of recombination (uptake and incorporation of foreign DNA) for the evolution and epidemiology of the major human bacterial pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, also known as the pneumococcus. There is an increasing appreciation of the public health significance of recombination in S. pneumoniae, where recombination has enabled major drug-resistant lineages to rapidly evade new conjugate vaccines. Here, I propose to investigate the role of different mechanisms of recombination in the context of (a) coevolution of the pathogen with the human immune system, (b) generation of novel antigenic diversity at the capsular locus, and (c) adaptation to clinical treatment by generation of novel bacterial lineages carrying multi-drug resistant genes and vaccine “escape” antigens. To do so, I will use an interdisciplinary approach of evolutionary microbiology, immunology, and epidemiology of infectious diseases. First, I will employ a generic evolutionary-epidemiological modelling approach to understand the population dynamic of recombination. Second, I will analyse newly available pneumococcal full-genome sequences to examine the link between recombination, immunity, vaccine, and drug-resistance in pneumococcus. The benefit of this research will be threefold. First, a better understanding of the role of recombination in coevolution with the human populations would be of benefit to the field of bacterial evolution and microbiology in general. Second, the approach outlined here can be applied to study recombination in other recombinogenic bacterial pathogens, like Neisseria meningitidis, Salmonella enterica or Helicobacter pylori. Finally, gaining further insight into the predicted long-term response against the current and future vaccines would help in the design of more effective forms of clinical interventions and help saving children’ lives.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health epidemiology
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy drug resistance multidrug resistance
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
SW7 2AZ London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.