Objective
Group B Streptococcus (GBS), or Streptococcus agalactiae, is the leading cause of sepsis and meningitis in human neonates and an emerging cause of invasive disease in adults. The detection of antibody-opsonised bacteria by phagocytic cells, like macrophages, elicits the ‘Eat Me’ signal that provides a critical arm of the host immune defence. Notably, bacterial pathogens often have immune evasion strategies to escape these processes. However, not all immune evasion mechanisms are understood for GBS and bacterial pathogens. Since bacterial pathogens often target specific cellular receptors, the host lab has performed a novel high-throughput screening of 1500 human cellular receptors for their interaction with GBS to uncover new host-pathogen interactions. This analysis revealed that the top hit is an inhibitory receptor called SIRPα expressed on macrophages. SIRPα detects CD47 on healthy cells to prevent macrophages from phagocytosing them. This is known as the ‘Don't Eat Me’ mechanism. Here, I hypothesise that bacterial pathogens like GBS interact with SIRPα to hijack the ‘Don’t Eat Me’ signal and evade macrophage phagocytosis and killing. I will use GBS as a study system. My objectives are to 1) use biochemical and structural approaches to define the GBS interaction with SIRPα, and use sophisticated genetic mutagenesis approaches to generate isogenic GBS strains that do not interact with SIRPα, 2) use cell and tissue infection models to determine the functional consequences of GBS targeting SIRPα. Overall, I will uncover a novel immune evasion strategy of GBS and establish whether pathogenic bacteria hijack SIRPα for immune evasion. More broadly, I will establish for the first time that our new high-throughput screening approach can uncover novel bacteria-human receptor interactions that have functional consequences in bacterial infection biology.
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.
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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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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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.
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.