BactiVax researchers Irene Jurado and Maite Sainz present their projects at the 2021 UCD Conway Festival

The UCD Conway Festival of Research and Innovation is an annual event that showcases recent scientific research and innovation achievements by scientists in UCD Conway Institute. The event features plenary lectures from leading scientists from industry, academia or clinical settings as well as a programme of scientific talks, poster presentations and a career discussion forum for researchers at the start of the career ladder.

This year, BactiVax was represented by two early stage researchers, Irene Jurado and Maite Sainz, both working under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Siobhán McClean in UCD, who held short talks showcasing their projects.

In her research project project, Irene focuses on exploiting an innovative proteomic approach to identify novel vaccine antigens to prevent Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. P. aeruginosa is a highly adaptable, multidrug resistant bacterium that is associated with serious hospital-acquired infections. Being an opportunistic pathogen, it poses a far greater risk to those with preexistent conditions such as cystic fibrosis or COPD, and to hospitalised patients that are on breathing machines (ventilators), with devices such as catheters or with wounds from surgery or burns (source CDC). Currently, there is no vaccine available to prevent P. aeruginosa infections. To date, Irene has worked on identifying and chracterising seven novel adhesines that have potential as vaccine antigens (see image below).

MaMaite also focuses on developing vaccines against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and focuses specifically on the optimisation of adjuvants. Her overall aim is to study the interaction between P. aeruginosa and the host immune response, in order to facilitate the study of antigen-adjuvant systems that elicit effective mucosal immune responses against the bacterium. Since the start of her project, Maite has studied interactions of P. aeruginosa with lung cells and has identified and characterised key host receptors that will assist in the development of improved vaccine adjuvants (see images below).

 

Recent tweets from BactiVax

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Congratulations to #BactiVax researchers @irenejm6, @maite_s96 and Assoc. Prof. Siobhán McClean on their recently published review on Pseudomonas aeruginosa #vaccine development! 🦠 P. aeruginosa is an antibiotic-resistant, hospital-acquired pathogen that can cause severe and difficult to treat infections. Link to open access paper here & in bio: https://t.co/l1y9Ugh5Sj?amp=1
BactiVax - Siobhán McClean