Discovery of malaria vaccine peptide targets

Summary This project will develop an innovative method to test the immunogenicity of these epitopes and to assess the protective capacity of specific liver-tissue-resident memory T cells against parasite infection in the mouse model. Promising epitopes will be included in our TRM-based malaria vaccines and the immunogenicity of ortholog antigens in human parasites will be tested

Project Details

Using Plasmodium-specific transgenic T cells in a mouse model we demonstrated that tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cells can fight malaria parasites in the liver with great efficacy. We then developed novel malaria vaccines aimed at the generation of these cells and achieved high levels of protection against infection. However, the lack of known parasite-derived protective epitopes that can be included as antigens in these vaccines is an important limitation for their future development and hinders translation into humans. We have recently defined multiple candidate parasite epitopes with high potential as vaccine antigens. This project will develop an innovative method to test the immunogenicity of these epitopes and to assess the protective capacity of specific liver-tissue-resident memory T cells against parasite infection in the mouse model. Promising epitopes will be included in our TRM-based malaria vaccines and the immunogenicity of ortholog antigens in human parasites will be tested. This project will involve several advanced immunological techniques with a strong focus on flow cytometry.