HIV Microbicides

HIV/AIDS kills millions of people every year.  No vaccine is yet available, while highly active antiretroviral therapy is too expensive for the majority of infected people living in the developing countries.  As an alternative means to control the epidemic, we are focusing on developing female-controlled topical microbicides based on anti-HIV proteins such as mannose-specific lectins and broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies.  See our publications related to this project in PubMed.

Mucosal Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics

Bacterial toxins and naturally occurring lectins often exhibit strong immunomodulatory activity at mucosal surfaces.  We are exploiting these proteins for the development of vaccines and immunotherapeutics.  We also investigate the mechanisms of their immunomodulatory actions.  See our publications related to this project in PubMed.

Plant-based protein expression

Plants can be the most economical and scalable platform for recombinant protein manufacture, but their potential has yet been fully educed.  We are investigating novel expression strategies, post-translational modifications/protein metabolism, and host engineering to improve PMP production.  See our publications related to this project in PubMed.