Alondra Tapia Poster 2024

Miss Alondra Tapia

ENCB - Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas Unidad Santo Tomás IPN, Mexico

Poster Abstract

Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, a fatal disease with a high mortality rate. The intrinsic resistance to commonly used antibiotics combined with the complex bacterial life cycle has hampered the development of preventive and therapeutic interventions and vaccines. The need of humoral and cell-mediated immunity in protection against B. pseudomallei has complicated the development of effective vaccines. Antigen delivery vaccine platforms that promote humoral and cellular responses while maintaining a safe profile are a roadblock to developing subunit vaccines against intracellular pathogens. Therefore, given the imminent harbinger of multi-resistant to panresistant B. pseudomallei strains, the development of new effective treatments is necessary. For which vaccines are the best cost-benefit strategy to reduce the use of antimicrobials.
 
Some vaccines are developed from protein subunits or killed pathogens, several vaccines are based on live-attenuated organisms, with the risk of regaining their pathogenicity under certain immunocompromised conditions. On the other hand, protein-based platforms are highly biocompatible, can assemble homogenously, can be effectively tailored to suit any antigen, as well as that they imitate the structure and function of living pathogens, but they cannot replicate and are not infectious. Further several studies, have tested both lumazine synthase-, ferritin-, and albumin-based nanoplatforms against a wide range of complex pathogens in pre-clinical studies with success results. Protein-based platforms enable antigen attachment through three different methods chemical conjugation, genetic fusion, and tag coupling. This last system, allow for rapid modular attachment of different antigens to a nanoparticle platform, at the cost of introducing more components, important characteristic for vaccines development. Therefore, the safety profile of nanoparticle-based platforms vaccine would make it a viable option for ICU patients, war wounded, traumatic injuries, or emergency surgeries. In this project, we are focus on the development of lumazine synthase Nano-platforms against B. pseudomallei, a complex multidrug resistance pathogen. 

Biography

Alondra studied a bachelor's degree in Biochemical Engineering and a master's degree in Food Sciences, at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) in Mexico. During her training, she carried out research related to the microbiota (effect of Lactobacillus spp. isolated from the sap of the agave pulquero on epithelial monolayers infected with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli), this allowed her to develop skills in cellular and molecular biology focused on pathogenic bacteria of clinical importance. Her subsequent professional experience as a quality control chemical analyst, in the most important pharmaceutical companies in Mexico, allowed her to develop activities that involve quality management systems, using good documentation, laboratory and manufacturing practices. Currently, she is pursuing his doctorate in Science and Technology of Vaccines and Biotherapeutics at the IPN, focused on the development of vaccine platforms based on protein-based nanoparticles for the efficient delivery of specific antigens against Burkholderia pseudomallei.