Tropical Medicine PhD Defense, Caitlin Williams: “Advancing Methodologies To Determine Protective Humoral Responses Generated By Recombinant Protein Subunit Filovirus Vaccines”

When

06/23/2021    
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Event Type

Zoom Details

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87031070234

Meeting ID: 870 3107 0234

For meeting passcode contact cmlum@hawaii.edu

Caitlin Williams
Ph.D. Candidate

Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology
John A. Burns School of Medicine
University of Hawaii at Manoa

Filoviruses are endemic in Tropical Sub-Saharan Africa and have caused sporadic and deadly outbreaks in Central and West Africa with case fatality rates of up to 90%. The largest Ebola Virus Disease outbreak on record caused over 28,000 cases.  There is a clear need for  comprehensive disease intervention to prevent future outbreaks. Licensed vaccines, Ervebo and Zabdeno + Mvabea, utilize viral vector platforms which are contraindicated in pregnant and nursing women. To address the needs of special populations with altered immunocompetence, our lab has developed protein subunit vaccines that have shown protection against all three filoviruses in non-human primate (NHP) models. There are no known correlates of protection for any filovirus disease and therefore no defined goals for what a protective immune response to these vaccines should be comprised of.  The goal of this project is to study protective antibody responses in murine and NHP models to understand what aspects of immunity are important for protection in both the general population as well as during pregnancy and nursing. We developed methods for analyzing the breadth of antibody responses to our vaccine by utilizing a peptide-array based ImmunoSignature (IS) as well as investigating the importance of antibody function through avidity and surrogate neutralization assays. To assess maternal immunization, we utilized a mouse model to analyze vaccine induced maternal antibody transfer to suckling pups. These experiments enhance our understanding of humoral immunity and protection against filovirus infection and as such help advance knowledge in the field of filovirology.