Research Theme

• Risk assessment and prediction of the amino acid substitutions effects in the vaccines effectivity against respiratory pathogens.

Keyword

• Pathogen evolutionary patterns
• Effects of amino acid substitutions on epitopes
• Risk assessment of amino acid substitutions

Overview of Research

• To maximize the protective effects of the vaccines, constant validation of their effectivity to neutralise the circulating variants of a pathogen is required.
• An approach to provide constant validation of the efficacy of vaccines despite the genetic diversity of pathogens is by in silico analysis and prediction of amino acid substitutions structural effects in the epitope determinants.
• The continuous advances in protein modelling are not a substitute for wet-bench experiments, but a great complement to explore a higher number of scientific and clinical hypotheses and narrow the targets with predicted results for laboratory validation and exploration.
• We are also exploring the simulation of multiple conditions that can affect the interaction of pathogens with the host, such as pH, temperature, etc.
• Additionally, we analyse databases of pathogens sequences in search for recurrent amino acid substitutions that could indicate uncharacterised sites under selection and a future risk.