Engineering Food-grade Bacteria for Treatment of Hookworms and other STHs

Raffi Aroian of the University of California, San Diego in the U.S. proposes to develop a delivery system for non-toxic, anti-roundworm proteins. With this system, mass production of a safe, potent cure for intestinal Roundworms that is cheap and compatible with global distribution should be possible. This project's Phase I research demonstrated that an anthelmintic protein could be expressed in three food-grade bacterial strains safe for humans. The aim of the Phase II project is to optimize the therapeutic activity and production of this protein in several food-grade bacteria to provide a cure for hookworms and other soil-transmitted helminths that is highly effective, inexpensive, capable of being produced on a large scale, and deliverable in many forms compatible with local customs.