# Glycoconjugate Nanoparticle Vaccines Against Burkholderia Infections

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON · 2020 · $433,532

## Abstract

Burkholderia mallei and B. pseudomallei are bacterial pathogens and causative agents of glanders and
melioidosis, respectively. At present, effective vaccines for prevention of glanders or meliodosis have not been
developed. However, renewed attention has been directed toward development of Burkholderia vaccines
because of the pathogens' seemingly ideal characteristics for malicious use as a biowarfare weapon.
Additionally, a vaccine will also have significant value for the immunization of at-risk populations in
melioidosis/glanders endemic areas of the world. Therefore, our long-term goal is to develop a platform that
allows for the efficient generation of a multicomponent vaccine which is able to protect against both glanders
and melioidosis. Our approach will use glycoconjugates coupled to gold nanoparticles (NP) and test their
protective properties in clinically relevant models of infection. The central hypothesis tested indicates that
protein antigens of B. mallei or B. pseudomallei coupled to NP polysaccharides will elicit protection in relevant
mammalian species, and that these antigens will correlate with clinically important serologic/immunologic
readouts. The hypothesis will be evaluated by developing different protein-polysaccharide NPs and comparing
their efficacy in vivo. The flexible NP platform will allow us to additionally incorporate novel antigens identified
by other groups as further enhancing protective immunity. We will establish an optimal immunization procedure
and test the efficacies of protein-polysaccharide NPs in a clinically relevant and highly controlled aerosol
murine model of infection. Finally, we aim to identify the correlates/biomarkers of protection induced by protein-
polysaccharide NP vaccination. This proposal is innovative because it capitalizes on the use of a subunit-NP
vaccine, which could be easily licensable because of its lower cost and more widely disseminated vaccinations
for at-risk populations. Together, these outcomes will help us to identify correlates of protection from protein-
polysaccharide nanoparticles and provide optimized vaccination strategies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9931145
- **Project number:** 5R01AI126601-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Alfredo G Torres
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $433,532
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-06-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9931145

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9931145, Glycoconjugate Nanoparticle Vaccines Against Burkholderia Infections (5R01AI126601-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9931145. Licensed CC0.

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