29 March 2012
PhD CoC Seminar - Generation of influenza A virus vectors for the delivery of pathogen antigens
Tuesday 3 April 2012 – Presented by Alaa Karkashan
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Title: |
Generation of influenza A virus vectors for the delivery of pathogen antigens |
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Speaker: |
Alaa Karkashan |
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Date: |
2012-04-03 |
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Time: |
11.30 am |
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Location: |
223.01. Resources Room (Bundoora West campus) |
Abstract
Viruses are naturally occurring vehicles. They can effectively deliver their proteins into host cells. Viral vectors vaccines are used as a tool to carry and deliver foreign proteins into a host. These proteins can then be expressed and recognized by a range of immune responses including T cells and antibodies. The development of viral vector vaccines is an attractive approach for the prevention from infectious pathogens.
Many studies have engineered influenza virus to produce specific proteins of infectious pathogens. These constructs were capable of inducing a strong local and systemic antibodies responses and/ or T cells responses in the immunized animals against the expressed proteins.
The cold-adapted live attenuated influenza virus (LAIV) has been used successfully for the production of effective influenza vaccines for many years. The vaccine is easily administered intranasally, and most importantly they are safe because they are temperature sensitive and cannot replicate in temperature above 25°C. These advantages make the LAIV an attractive vector candidate for the development of effective vaccines against infectious diseases.
The reverse genetics technique made it possible to manipulate the influenza virus genome. There are two different systems for the generation of recombinant influenza virus: the helper virus technique and the 8 or 12 plasmids technique. For this project the helper virus technique will be used.
The main aim of this project is to design a recombinant influenza A vaccine that can act against different infectious diseases, including malaria by using live attenuated influenza virus as a vector.
In this research, a recombinant helper virus will be generated by engineering the HA gene to contain a selectable epitope. Also, another recombinant virus will be produced and this will carry a foreign antigenic epitope from a selected pathogen.
Supervisors
- Professor Peter Smooker
- Dr Thi Thu Hao Van
Seminar coordinator: Leeanne Bickford Tel. +61 3 9925 7106