Modified Outer Membrane Vesicles (mOMV) as safe, effective, low cost, multivalent vaccines against typhoid and paratyphoid fever and invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella infections

Salmonella are bacteria that cause life-threatening infections in adults and children. These diseases co-exist in many geographical areas, especially in low and middle income countries. Therefore, a vaccine that can protect against all the major Salmonella infections would be highly desirable. This project will exploit the remarkable features of Outer Membrane Vesicles (mOMV) to deliver antigens from many species of Salmonella that cause disease in humans. mOMV are outer membrane blebs naturally shed by Gram-negative bacteria, including Salmonella. These bacteria can be genetically manipulated to increase mOMV production, to decrease adverse reactions and to include additional antigens. mOMV are easy and cheap to produce, strongly immunogenic and protective. With our funding we will develop a multivalent, easy to produce, low-cost, safe, effective Salmonella vaccine to be taken towards the end of preclinical experimentation.