Project 2: Chlamydial Vaccine Testing in Mice and Guinea Pigs

Principal Investigators: Nilu Goonetilleke, PhD, and Kenneth Beagley, PhD

Co-Investigators: Toni Darville, MD, Jonathan Harris, PhD, and Alison Carey, PhD

The goal of this project is to generate novel chlamydial vaccines that will be comprehensively tested for immunogenicity, safety and protective efficacy in two pre-clinical models. Studies in mice and guinea pigs have demonstrated that induction of Chlamydia-specific CD4 T cells in genital mucosa, either by infection or through vaccination, correlates with protection. More recently, tissue-resident CD4 T cells have been shown to be critical mediators of long-term chlamydial immunity in mice. These findings support our premise that CD4 Th1 and TRM are essential to mediating CT protection. This project will identify novel chlamydial vaccines with a highly feasible path to clinical testing.