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  4. GLYCOENGINEERING STRATEGIES FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT: INVESTIGATING OLIGOSACCHARYLTRANSFERASE EFFICIENCY IN BACTERIAL O-ANTIGEN CONJUGATION

GLYCOENGINEERING STRATEGIES FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT: INVESTIGATING OLIGOSACCHARYLTRANSFERASE EFFICIENCY IN BACTERIAL O-ANTIGEN CONJUGATION

File(s)
Feng_cornell_0058O_12467.pdf (3.52 MB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://doi.org/10.7298/kdq1-ee60
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/120677
Collections
Cornell Theses and Dissertations
Author
Feng, Ching-Chih
Abstract

Glycoconjugate vaccines are important for prevention of bacterial disease, especiallyamid rising antibiotic resistance. The conventional conjugation methods, though effective, suffer from drawbacks like uncontrolled coupling of glycan and heterogeneous immunogenicity. Protein glycan coupling technology (PGCT) offers site-specific glycosylation through bacterial oligosaccharyltransferases (OSTs). The widely used Campylobacter jejuni PglB (CjPglB), has strict specificity for glycans with a reducing-end N-acetylhexosamine, resulting in low glycosylation efficiency of some vaccine-relevant O-antigen glycan structures. The research of the present study focuses on improvement of glycan-protein conjugation by screening CjPglB homologues with higher transfer activity toward O-polysaccharide (O-PS) antigens from Francisella tularensis strain Schu S4 and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) serotype O78 for preparation of glycoconjugate vaccines against more O-antigens. The objective of this research study is to identify OST homologues with equal or greater transfer efficiency of vaccine-relevant O-PS antigens to immunogenic carrier proteins such as protein D (PD) from Haemophilus influenzae, with the goal of extending the spectrum of bacterial O-PS antigens that can be conjugated to vaccine carrier proteins. O-PS antigen biosynthetic genes from F. tularensis Schu S4 and ETEC O78 were cloned and expressed in a laboratory strain of E. coli (strain CLM24) to generate novel glycoconjugates. We anticipate that enrichment of glycosylated PD will enhance vaccine immunogenicity, with greater O-PS antigen-specific IgG titers. Using this approach helps us to quickly determine the most appropriate OST for a target O-antigen, thereby greatly improving the effectiveness, specificity, and scale of PGCT-based conjugate vaccine manufacturing.

Description
44 pages
Date Issued
2025-08
Committee Chair
DeLisa, Matthew
Committee Member
Putnam, David
Degree Discipline
Chemical Engineering
Degree Name
M.S., Chemical Engineering
Degree Level
Master of Science
Type
dissertation or thesis

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