Chagas disease, caused by infection with the protozoal parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and transmitted by kissing bugs, affects 6-8 million people worldwide and results in approximately 50,000 deaths annually. Chronic Chagasic cardiomyopathy is a major consequence of this parasitic infection, causing heart disease among people living in poverty in Latin America and elsewhere. Our Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and our labs have active projects in vaccine, diagnostic, and therapeutic development, paired with projects to understand the global epidemiology of Chagas disease.
In the area of vaccine development, a clinical-trial-grade vaccine antigen, which has been produced in Mexico, is slated to soon be evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical study. In parallel, the CVD is diversifying the Chagas vaccine development efforts by combining recombinant protein and mRNA vaccine technologies, with pre-clinical studies ongoing to develop and assess potentially more effective vaccine-linked therapy approaches. Finally, to better monitor disease prevalence and to support the design of future clinical trials, our teams are improving diagnostic methods, while in synergy, we continue to monitor disease prevalence nationally and internationally.
Vaccines
- Vaccine-linked chemotherapy for human and veterinary use
- Jones et al. — — PLOS Negl Trop Dis
- mRNA vaccines for malaria and other parasitic pathogens
- Versteeg, Pollet — — Trends in mRNA Vaccine Research
- Poveda et al. — — ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
- Vaccine antigen discovery
- Pollet et al. — — Plos Pathog
Diagnostics
- Diagnostic antigen discovery
- Versteeg et al. — — ppt
- Assay development
- Mejia et al. —
- Mejia et al. — — ppt
Therapeutics
- Hookworm proteins as host-directed therapy
- Jones et al. — — ppt
- Probiotics to reduce the pathology of CD
- Poveda et al. — — Microbiol Spectr
- Poveda et al. — — ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces
Epidemiology
- Epidemiologic, immunologic, and clinical consequences of CD
- Clark et al. — — Lancet Reg Health Am
- Chagas disease in the immunocompromised
- Clark et al. — — Curr Op Inf Dis
- Clark et al. — — Clin Infect Dis
- Vectors and transmissions
- Gunter et al. — — Am J Trop Med Hyg
- Jibowu et al. — — Biology (Basel)
- Mejia et al. — — Am J Trop Med Hyg
Pre-Clinical Studies
- Vaccine-linked chemotherapy for human and veterinary use
- Jones et al. — — PLOS Negl Trop Dis
- mRNA vaccines for malaria and other parasitic pathogens
- Versteeg, Pollet — — Trends in mRNA Vaccine Research
- Poveda et al. — — ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
- Vaccine antigen discovery
- Pollet et al. — — Plos Pathog
- Immune response
- Leao et al. — — Front Immunol
