Project Lead(s): Imran Rashid
Issue
Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic and parasitic disease that is widespread, all over the world.
One-third of the world’s population is infected with T. gondii, which can cause toxoplasmosis in the developing fetus and is dangerous for people whose immune systems are compromised through disease or chemotherapy.
T. gondii is also recognized as a major cause of abortion in farm livestock, such as sheep and goats.
Solution
The project aimed to develop a multi-protein, sub-unit vaccine against Toxoplasma gondii by taking the following steps:
· Isolating and characterizing T. gondii
· Amplifying and cloning in expression plasmid the genes encoding SAG1, ROP18 and AMA1
· Formulating the three recombinant proteins in nanoparticles with PLGA
· Conducting vaccination trials in a mouse model intranasally and assessing the degree of the immune protection.
Outcome
A local T. gondii strain was isolated and characterized, and cloning and expression of recombinant proteins of SAG1, ROP18 and AMA1 was achieved.
However, the project team ran out of time before formulating nanoparticles of rec-SAG1, rec-ROP18 and rec-AMA1, and conducting the immunization trials with mice.
After optimizing the process to screen human samples to detect Toxoplasmosis, the team plans to apply for a scale-up grant to develop a local ELISA kit.