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Texas Tech University Health Science Center El Paso |
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Mingtao Zeng |
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Texas Tech University Health Science Center El Paso |
We are developing next-generation vaccines against human respiratory pathogens such as influenza viruses, Streptococcus pneumoniae, nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) and agents important for biodefense, such as Bacillus anthracis, botulinum neurotoxins and Francisella tularensis. Our multi-component candidate vaccines are being formulated and delivered by noninvasive nasal, oral, or transcutaneous manners using recombinant viruses, bacteria, plasmid DNA and detoxified bacterial toxins as vaccine antigen delivery vehicles. The noninvasive and easy administration procedures are expected to eliminate pain associated with needle injection, to reduce the requirement for specially trained personnel and equipment, and to permit rapid vaccine deployment in a short time frame at a low cost. To facilitate the development of more effective vaccines, we are also researching: The effect of current vaccination programs on the epidemiological changes of respiratory pathogens (strain replacement and antigenic variation); how people respond to infections or vaccinations at the cellular and molecular levels (B-cell, T-cell, and gene expression levels); and the identification of new protective antigens through genomic and proteomic approaches.
Content credit by:
Texas Tech University Health Science Center El Paso, source http://elpaso.ttuhsc.edu/research/biomedical/coe/infectious-diseases/mingtao_zeng.aspx
