Published on April 7, 2017

Human disease caused by Burkholderia spp. is a serious problem in many parts of the world including infection of immunocompromised patients and those with cystic fibrosis.  Traditional antimicrobial therapy is protracted and problematic. The goal of this cooperated structural vaccinology project is to identify novel immune dominant and cryptic linked B and T cell epitopes for the development of efficacious vaccines against Burkholderia mallei and B. pseudomallei flagellar protein FliC. For our in silico part works, we will screen the greater than 30 known genomic/proteomic data sets of Burkholderia spp. including both pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains.  Identified sequences of interest will be scored for inclusion of both a putative T cell (linear) epitope and a B cell (linear or conformational) epitope while eliminating potentially self-reactive mimetic epitopes.  Then candidate FliC peptides will be synthesized and tested by cooperated labs on campus.