Vaccination Strategies Against Highly Variable Pathogens

Vaccines against antigenically stable pathogens, or pathogens that only exist in a limited number of serotypes, have been very successful in the past and have drastically decreased the incidence and lethality of many diseases. However, when it comes to highly variable pathogens or viruses that exist in multiple serotypes, the traditional methods for vaccine development have reached their limits.This volume highlights the development of vaccines against such challenging pathogens. Novel approaches for immunogen design, including structure-guided vaccine development and vaccines targeting glycans, as well as adjuvants and animal models used for testing possible vaccine candidates are outlined and discussed in detail. Given its scope, the book will appeal to scientists in the fields of infectious diseases, microbiology and medicine.

About the Author

​Lars Hangartner, Ph.D. Lars Hangartner is a molecular biologist and immunologist whose research focuses on the humoral response against variable pathogens, such as influenza A virus and HIV. Moreover, he has performed basic studies on measles virus and lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. He is currently an associate professor at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and his present research investigates Fc/FcγR interactions as well as epitope mapping of polyclonal antibody response in the context of HIV vaccine development. Dennis R. Burton, Ph.D. Dennis Burton is the Chair and Professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA and James and Jessie Minor Chair in Immunology. He is the Scientific Director of the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center, Director of The Consortium for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD) at Scripps, and a member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Boston, USA. His research is focused on infectious disease, in particular the interplay of antibodies and highly mutable viruses, notably HIV. He is interested in the potential of broadly neutralizing antibodies to inform vaccine design.