VICI DISEASE - Structure Based Vaccine Design

Description

The Tolia laboratory pursues vaccine development by conducting research in three areas: 1) host-pathogen interactions; 2) neutralizing antibodies; and 3) structural vaccinology for infectious diseases. Through structural, functional, and mechanistic studies, they define critical host-pathogen interactions and the mechanisms of protective antibody neutralization. They use structure-guided protein design and structural vaccinology for malaria and viral diseases to develop potent and durable vaccines and therapeutic interventions. Lot 1: In the laboratory led by Niraj H. Tolia, computational protein design is being conducted with the objective of assisting the VICI-consortium in the development of optimal vaccine antigen candidates that can elicit broad and long-lasting immune responses. The Tolia lab possesses exceptional proficiency in the characterization and design of immunogens, employing state-of-the-art techniques such as crystallography and electron-microscopy structure determination, as well as biophysical studies on epitope-antibody interactions using bio-layer interferometry. This research has the potential to enhance the vaccine candidates being developed within the VICI-consortium and cannot be readily outsourced to a Contract Research Organization (CRO) due to its reliance on specialized expertise that aligns with the goals of the VICI consortium. Please notice that the value of this procurement is under the threshold value.