Developing Epitope-Targeted Vaccines for Malaria

Pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccines that induce high-titer, durable antibody responses can potentially provide protection from infection. In this presentation, Bryce Chackerian will discuss his effort to engineer virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines targeting recently described vulnerable epitopes at the N-terminus of the central repeat region of the Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein. These VLP-based vaccines can induce strong and durable antibody responses that provide protection from malaria infection in a mouse challenge model.