BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Structural characterisation of Trypanosoma cruzi antigens for diag
 nostic and therapeutic applications - Ivan Campeotto\, Assistant Professor
  in Microbial Biotechnology
DTSTART:20250514T140000Z
DTEND:20250514T150000Z
UID:TALK231058@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:124030
DESCRIPTION:*Wednesday 14th May 2025\, 3-4pm\, Seminar Room\, Department o
 f Pharmacology\, Tennis Court Road\, CB2 1PD*\n\n*Abstract:*\nChagas disea
 se\, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi\, is an increasing
  global public health concern killing 12\,000 people per annum worldwide a
 nd estimated to infect eight million individuals\, with the majority remai
 ning undiagnosed. Despite its health impact in both endemic and non-endemi
 c areas\, no vaccine is available\, and the existing therapies are outdate
 d\, producing severe side effects.\n\nTwo conserved T. cruzi blood-stage a
 ntigens\, called TcPOP and Tc24\, have recently been identified as the key
  virulence factors and are the leading candidates for Chagas vaccine devel
 opment.\n\nIn this seminar\, Ivan will present the cryo-EM structure of Tc
 POP in open and closed conformation (Fig.1) and discuss on-going work to c
 haracterise the immunogenicity of both antigens\, for therapeutic and diag
 nostic applications\, using an integrative structural approach.\n\n*Biogra
 phy:* Dr Ivan Campeotto obtained his BSc and MSc in Industrial Biotechnolo
 gy from the University of Padua (Italy) and a PhD in structural biology fr
 om the University of Leeds (UK) before moving to King’s College London\,
  Imperial College London and the University of Oxford\, to apply a structu
 ral approach to the fields of enzyme engineering\, bacteriology and parasi
 tology\, respectively.\n\nHis group currently focuses on structure-guided 
 vaccine development in the fields of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) an
 d emerging viruses with particular focus on Chagas disease. His collaborat
 ors include parasitologists\, virologists and immunologists from Universit
 y of Nottingham\, London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine\, University 
 of Oxford\, University of Copenhagen\, University of Buenos Aires\, Rosali
 nd Franklin Institute and University of Cambridge.\n\nOne of his main rese
 arch streams lies in the design and production of immunogens from human an
 d animal pathogens\, for the generation of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)\, 
 which are produced\, isolated and tested for their diagnostic and therapeu
 tic applications.  Another research stream lies on the determination of an
 tigen-antibody complexes\, which are used to guide the design and developm
 ent of vaccine prototypes via epitopes conjugation to engineered Virus-Lik
 e-Particles (VLPs)\, upon computational epitope crafting.
LOCATION:Seminar Room (Level 2)\, Dept of Pharmacology 
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR