Antigen discovery and antibody engineering against avian paramyxovirus
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Interdisciplinary Bioscience DTP
Abstract
Newcastle Disease Virus is a highly infectious Avulavirus with up to a 100% fatality rate in the birds it infects. It constitutes a major threat to the poultry industry, especially in the developing world, as well as to small scale farmers. Current vaccines are only fully effective against some strains of the virus and confer little protection against newer, more virulent strains. The aims of this project are to attempt to develop a vaccine against these newly emerging strains of virus through the expression of modified Newcastle disease virus fusion proteins, in cell culture. These will then be used to generate broadly neutralising antibodies against multiple strains in-vivo. These will be used to further study the F protein structure with a view to creating an effective recombinant vaccine, for poultry, against the virus. AfS, ENWW
Organisations
| Description | Thus far we have developed a construct for a virus fusion protein in what we think will generate a better immune response. We are in the process of solving the structure, but preliminary results indicate that it is I'm this pre-fusion conformation. |
| Exploitation Route | We hope to take this forward to solve the structure. Others might use that data to begin rational drug design. Additionally, the fusion protein has many homologues with unsolved structures, which our approach could be useful for. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |