Infectious Disease

Filippo Mancia of Columbia University in the U.S. will perform crystallization experiments on a key olfactory receptor used by mosquitoes to detect humans. The aim of these studies is to determine at an atomic level the conserved regions on the olfactory receptor in order to develop drug therapies to block these receptors. This project's Phase I research generated diffraction quality crystals of this targeted mosquito olfactory receptor, and in Phase II, the team will optimize the crystal to determine the structure of the receptor and how it binds to small molecule anti-malarial compounds.

Sunil Joshi of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in the U.S. will study the efficacy of delivering a non-invasive low-voltage electric wave pulse in the vicinity of lymphoid tissues to stimulate the activation and maturation of dendritic cells. If successful, this would be a method of boost long-term immunity.

Todd Sulchek of Georgia Tech and David White of the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. will develop and test the ability of a bi-functional microbead to stimulate the innate immune response. On one hemisphere, the microbead will display targeting antibodies that will bind to pathogens, and on the other hemisphere the microbead will feature Fc fragments that activate the complement system and recruit immune cells to destroy the captured pathogen.

Owain Millington and Gail McConnell of University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom seek to adapt existing imaging systems to provide non-invasive in vivo imaging of Leishmania parasites present in macrophages and dendritic cells, and then use a targeted laser to destroy them. They will also test the hypothesis that targeting these cells for destruction will stimulate protective immunity against future Leishmania parasite infections.

David Sintasath of Malaria Consortium in the United Kingdom proposes to treat the traditional scarves worn by migrant workers along the Thai-Cambodia border with insecticides to reduce the overall malaria disease burden. Sintasath will then monitor subsequent infection rates reported by area health facilities, and survey participants to learn more about their knowledge, attitude and use of the treated scarves.

Jasper Ogwal-Okeng of Makerere University in Uganda will test whether the insect-eating plants can reduce the population of mosquitoes and their larvae. Ogwal- Okeng will study optimal numbers and placement of such plants and record subsequent impact on mosquito and larvae populations to further refine this vector control method.

Susanne Nylén Spoormaker of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden will test the theory that chronic parasitic worm infections not only increase susceptibility to certain infections, but also impair the ability of the immune system to respond effectively to vaccines. Spoormaker will research whether treatment of worms prior to vaccination will improve the efficacy of vaccination for Tuberculosis and Leishmanasis.

Theresa Ochoa of Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru will test whether providing newborns with daily oral supplements of a key milk protein can protect them against sepsis during the critical early days in life. Lactoferrin, the most abundant protein in human and bovine milk, has been shown to have broad-spectrum antimicrobial capabilities, and could provide a new tool to fight neonatal infection and mortality in low-resource settings.

Heribert Warzecha of Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany will develop a peptide that can be reproduced in plants that generate nectar on which mosquitoes feed. This peptide, when ingested by the mosquitoes, interrupts the parasite transmission process in the insect gut, reducing the risk of transmission to humans.

Chang Liu and Xiaohong Kong of Nankai University in China seek to develop a self-destructive virus vector called HIVi, which will express small interfering RNA to silence HIV in infected cells, and also replicate in a controlled manner to outcompete the HIV infection before turning itself off. The efficacy of HIVi in interfering with HIV will be assessed using a number of standard HIV cell-based assays.