Project description
Building better defences against flaviviruses
Dengue, yellow fever and Zika viruses have been recognised as threatening global health, primarily transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. These viruses put more than half of the world’s population at risk and can emerge without warning. Understanding how the immune system neutralises these viruses is crucial for the development of effective vaccines. The ERC-funded FLAVIR project will develop new tools to understand flavivirus structures and antibody responses, with the aim of progressing next-generation vaccines and diagnostic tools against these persistent and emerging infections. Antibody recognition of viral surface proteins will be mapped using mass spectrometry, glycoproteomics, and electron microscopy..
Objective
Flaviviruses are a tremendous burden on global public health. The genus consists of yellow fever virus, dengue virus, and zika virus amongst others. These viruses threaten more than half the global human population and are spreading into new territories. The recent zika virus pandemic stresses the need for a suitable protein engineering toolkit to enable swift development of emerging flavivirus antigens for structural studies, serology and vaccine development. Moreover, the structural determinants of a neutralizing polyclonal antibody response are currently not well understood, in large part for a lack of suitable methods to address the complex interactions of multiple antibodies directed against a heterogeneous, glycosylated viral antigen.
With FLAVIR I will use my unique expertise in both mass spectrometry and electron microscopy to develop a comprehensive structural proteomics toolkit for in-depth profiling of the neutralizing antibody response against flaviviruses. Using a combination of novel mass spectrometry-based antibody sequencing techniques, glycoproteomics profiling and electron microscopy, we will uncover how the polyclonal antibody response against flaviviruses is directed by key structural determinants of the Envelope glycoprotein that is displayed on the surface of infectious virions.
We will develop new strategies to produce prefusion stabilized E-dimers and ultimately reconstruction of full icosahedral flavivirus-like particles from soluble components. The outlined strategies will be tested and streamlined for broad applicability across the flaviviruses so that it can be swiftly adapted for emerging species and strains. We will characterize our designs with state-of-the art mass spectrometry methods (native MS, mass photometry, HDX-MS) and electron microscopy.
We will use these optimized antigens to uncover the role of antigen glycosylation in antibody binding, profile the serum antibody repertoire directed against the E-antigen and map ou
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins proteomics
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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.
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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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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.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3584 CS Utrecht
Netherlands
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