The surface of virtually all bacteria are coated with sugar polymers, called glycans. We spoke to Professor Emma Slack, Dr Milad Radiom, Dr Yagmur George Turgay and Suwannee Ganguillet about the SNUGly project’s work in investigating how the immune system recognises these glycans, which could inform the development of vaccines against certain pathogens.
Virus-like particles (VLPs) are emerging as nano-scaffolds in a variety of biomedical applications including the delivery of vaccine antigens and therapeutic molecules. These soft, colloidal, and proteinaceous structures are nevertheless susceptible to environmental factors such as mechanical stress, proteases and low pH which limit their usefulness, particularly for mucosal applications. We addressed this issue by crosslinking multiple surface sites using polyethylene glycol linkers. Surface crosslinking enhanced the colloidal stability and mechanical strength of VLPs against pH, proteases, and mechanical stresses. Chemical crosslinking thus offers a viable means to enhance resilience of VLPs in mucosal applications.
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