(81b) Developing a Modular Virus-like Particle Vaccine Platform for Viral Diseases
AIChE Annual Meeting
2016
2016 AIChE Annual Meeting
Food, Pharmaceutical & Bioengineering Division
Emerging Applications in Synthetic Biology in Health and Medicine
Monday, November 14, 2016 - 8:18am to 8:36am
Here we discuss the development of a modular, virus-like particle based vaccine platform in the context of our work to address the need for a prophylactic Zika vaccine. Through cell-free protein synthesis, we can produce and stockpile an engineered virus-like particle. This virus-like particle can be conjugated to a relevant antigen (Protein E Domain III for our Zika vaccine candidate) using click chemistry. The virus-like particle scaffold allows for multivalent display of the relevant antigen in a manner that mimics presentation on the natural virus. Multiple orientations of the antigen on the virus-like particle scaffold are easily evaluated by creating antigen variants with a non-natural amino acid incorporated in different positions within the protein. Additionally, innate immune stimulators will be co-attached to the virus-like particle to boost the immune response to the antigen by acting as a non-denaturing adjuvant. This platform is easily translated to other diseases, including the influenza and HIV efforts currently underway in our lab.