Fulvio Reggiori part of multi-disciplinary Horizon-MSCA Doctoral Network to develop novel vaccines
AIAS Fellow Fulvio Reggiori and his laboratory at Aarhus University is part of a large international multi-disciplinary consortium, the ACINETWORK, which includes universities and companies from Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Denmark. Their aim is to design novel therapeutic glycoconjugate vaccines to combat antimicrobial resistant strains of the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii.
Bacterial infections are a societal burden with severe medical and socio-economic impacts. Although antibiotics can be effective, the continuous emergence of bacteria with antimicrobial resistance calls for the introduction of novel therapeutics. In this regard, glycoconjugate vaccines hold a prominent role in the fight against antimicrobial resistance bacterial strains.
With an EU Horizon-MSCA Doctoral Network grant, the consortium ACINETWORK will focus on the development of glycoconjugate vaccines against severe and life-threatening infections caused by antimicrobial resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strains. The glycoconjugate vaccines are based on a chemical conjugation of one or more pathogen-associated saccharide antigens to immunogenic carriers. This type of vaccine could lead to a long-term protective immunity.
Professor Fulvio Reggiori and his lab team at the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University is one of the beneficiaries of the consortium. Over the next four years, PI Fulvio Reggiori, co-PI Associate Professor Muriel Mari and their lab team will contribute to the consortium with a study of intracellular trafficking, biodegradation and immune response of the glycoconjugate vaccines developed by ACINETWORK.
Collaboration across sectors, countries and research fields
The ACINETWORK consortium is coordinated by Professor Luigi Lay from Universita degli Studi di Milano in Italy, and has contributors from several European countries. The consortium comprises universities and SMEs with a unique complementary expertise, that range from carbohydrate chemistry to nanotechnology, immunology and microbiology, which will all contribute to the realization of the new glycoconjugate vaccines.
Full title of the Horizon-MSCA Doctoral Network consortium
“A training network for the design of synthetic carbohydrate-based vaccines in the fight against multi-drug resistant nosocomial pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii (ACINETWORK)”
Contact
Fulvio Reggiori, Professor, AIAS Fellow
Email: f.m.reggiori@aias.au.dk
Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS) &
Department of Biomedicine
Aarhus University
Denmark