The Spirochetal Research Labs co-directed by Justin Radolf, M.D., and Juan Salazar, M.D., M.P.H., received an award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the NIH to develop a vaccine for syphilis. The international study team is comprised of researchers from UConn School of Medicine, Connecticut Children’s, the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, UNC Project-Malawi, CIDEIM in Cali, Colombia, Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, and Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China. Three projects comprise the Cooperative Research Center.

The first builds upon research conducted by Dr. Radolf with Melissa Caimano, Ph.D, a scientist at UConn Health and member of the Department of Pediatrics and the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Project 1 will select leading vaccine candidates based on bioinformatics, biophysical analysis, and structural modeling, regardless of whether they induce antibodies during the course of syphilitic infection in humans.

The second project is directed by Dr. Salazar and Arlene Seña, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill. Project 2 includes Kelly Hawley, Ph.D, a talented research scientist in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Connecticut Children’s. It will map the global diversity of various Treponema pallidum strains and determine outer membrane protein variation in preparation for a proper vaccine formulation.

The third project leverages technology developed for HIV research at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. Armed with knowledge of the structures of the syphilis bacterium outer-membrane proteins generated at UConn Health and Connecticut Children’s, the Duke team, led by Anthony Moody, M.D., can identify B cells that produce antibodies directed against extracellular loops.