Structural characterisation of Trypanosoma cruzi antigens for diagnostic and therapeutic applications

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• Ivan Campeotto, Assistant Professor in Microbial Biotechnology
• Wednesday 14 May 2025, 15:00-16:00
• Seminar Room (Level 2), Dept of Pharmacology .

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Wednesday 14th May 2025, 3-4pm, Seminar Room, Department of Pharmacology, Tennis Court Road, CB2 1PD

Abstract: Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is an increasing global public health concern killing 12,000 people per annum worldwide and estimated to infect eight million individuals, with the majority remaining undiagnosed. Despite its health impact in both endemic and non-endemic areas, no vaccine is available, and the existing therapies are outdated, producing severe side effects.

Two conserved T. cruzi blood-stage antigens, called TcPOP and Tc24, have recently been identified as the key virulence factors and are the leading candidates for Chagas vaccine development.

In this seminar, Ivan will present the cryo-EM structure of TcPOP in open and closed conformation (Fig.1) and discuss on-going work to characterise the immunogenicity of both antigens, for therapeutic and diagnostic applications, using an integrative structural approach.

Biography: Dr Ivan Campeotto obtained his BSc and MSc in Industrial Biotechnology from the University of Padua (Italy) and a PhD in structural biology from the University of Leeds (UK) before moving to King’s College London, Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, to apply a structural approach to the fields of enzyme engineering, bacteriology and parasitology, respectively.

His group currently focuses on structure-guided vaccine development in the fields of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and emerging viruses with particular focus on Chagas disease. His collaborators include parasitologists, virologists and immunologists from University of Nottingham, London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, University of Copenhagen, University of Buenos Aires, Rosalind Franklin Institute and University of Cambridge.

One of his main research streams lies in the design and production of immunogens from human and animal pathogens, for the generation of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), which are produced, isolated and tested for their diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Another research stream lies on the determination of antigen-antibody complexes, which are used to guide the design and development of vaccine prototypes via epitopes conjugation to engineered Virus-Like-Particles (VLPs), upon computational epitope crafting.

This talk is part of the Department of Pharmacology Seminar Series series.

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