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Pietro Mastroeni
University of Cambridge, UK
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Microbio and Biotech Rept
Bacterial diseases cause approximately six million deaths per year. Antimicrobial resistance is increasing and better vaccines are needed. Vaccine design against many bacteria is still empirical and not always based on the knowledge of the immunological requirements for protection. We are currently studying immune responses and vaccines against invasive Salmonella diseases. Invasive Non-Typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and is estimated to cause over 1.9 M illnesses and 400,000 deaths annually in SSA, which carries 57% of the global burden. These infections affect in particular young children and individuals with immunological defects or co-morbidities such as malaria, HIV and malnutrition. Using interdisciplinary approaches that combine preclinical models, epidemiological observations and in vitro studies in humans we have identified several of the immunological mechanisms that are required for host resistance to iNTS. This knowledge needs translating in the generation of vaccines that are able to confer protection also in the presence of underlying immune-compromise. We are also evaluating new classes of non-living vaccines and we are searching for gene-mutations that will make live attenuated vaccines safer to use in areas of the world where underlying pathologies would make current live vaccine candidates excessively dangerous.
E-mail:
pm274@cam.ac.uk
