Project description
Vaccines against antimicrobial resistant pathogens
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microorganisms evolve to resist the effects of antimicrobial drugs. Misuse and overuse of antimicrobial drugs exacerbate this phenomenon, rendering antimicrobials ineffective and threaten routine common procedures. Vaccines are a viable option against AMR, but we must first understand how the immune system can distinguish between harmful pathogens and beneficial gut microbes. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SUGAR project will investigate how immune responses to AMR-priority pathogens like Salmonella and Shigella may cross-react with helpful gut bacteria due to shared surface sugar structures. Project findings will guide the development of precise vaccines that combat AMR without disrupting gut health.
Objective
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a looming global threat, rendering antibiotic treatments useless, and making bacterial infections difficult to treat. With diminishing antibiotic options to control infectious outbreaks, we must develop new strategies to prevent widespread mortality. Our group develops novel vaccines to leverage the body’s natural immune responses to fight bacterial infections. To do this, it is crucial to understand how our immune systems recognize harmful bacteria (“pathogens”), and how they distinguish them from the ‘good’ gut-resident microbes which promote human health. Oral vaccines typically induce protective immune responses which recognize sugar structures on the outer membrane of harmful bacteria, promoting their elimination. However, some of these sugar structures use the same molecular building blocks as those found on the surface of beneficial bacteria. In fact, some pathogens mimic the sugar structures of beneficial microbes to evade the immune system. In turn, this may lead to inappropriate recognition of good bacteria by the immune system. I plan to combine vaccination studies in mice with molecular tools to study direct surface sugar-immune interactions, focusing on immune responses to World Health Organization AMR priority pathogens Salmonella and Shigella. I will answer fundamental questions about immune-bacterial recognition: (1) Can immune antibodies induced in response to harmful pathogens also recognize good bacteria? (2) Does this recognition impact the composition and host-beneficial functions of gut resident microbial communities? (3) Does non-specificity of bacterial immune targeting reduce vaccine-mediated protection? Outcomes will contribute to fundamental scientific knowledge of immune-bacterial interactions and provide valuable public health insights, including explaining individual variation in vaccine protectiveness. Ultimately, this work will inform the design of effective human vaccines to combat AMR.
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.
- social sciences sociology demography mortality
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
- 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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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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.
OX1 2JD Oxford
United Kingdom
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