Bacterial surface proteins play a fundamental role in the interaction between cell and its environment. They constitute a diverse group of molecules with important functions. Moreover, they are potential drug targets, and targets for vaccines, as they are molecules with the highest probability to be recognized by the elements of the immune system.
The aim of this project is the identification in a fast and highly reliable manner of a set of protein vaccine candidates against two Gram-positive bacteria: i) Streptococcus pneumoniae, a Gram-positive bacterium which is pathogen in humans, being the leading cause of infective pneumonia in children and adollescents. Also, a protein chip will also be developed from a collection of recombinant proteins held by the group, which can be applied in the diagnosis of early pneumococcal infection, as well as in possible epidemiological surveillance programmes.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
From the recombinant proteins that we started to produce in the previous project, complemented with others that we have produced in this project, we have made a protein chip on a glass surface that discriminates between infant pneumococcal infected patients and a control group. These results have been published in the journal Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, the most important in the field of proteomics. In addition, we have prepared a book chapter describing the manufacturing methodology of our chips. During this project, we have had a visit in the laboratory of a PhD student from Thailand, who has carried out a one-year stay, being co-supervised by the PI of the group, and from whose work two articles have been published.