To the right is information regarding our COBRE Research and Investigators specific projects. Below is Juliette Tinker’s project summary.
Targeting bacterial-extracellular matrix interactions to construct a Staphylococcus aureus vaccine for bovine mastitis
Project Summary
Staphylococcus aureus is an important human bacterial pathogen. As well as a major cause of infection in the udder, or mastitis, in dairy cattle. Despite control measures and vaccine development efforts over the past two decades, S. aureus continues to cause significant human mortality and considerable economic loss for the dairy industry worldwide.  In bovines, S. aureus can establish chronic subclinical colonization of the udder that is highly transmissible and often undetected.  Subclinical disease is dependent upon bacterial interaction with host extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules. This is so that S. aureus is able to establish intracellular growth.Â
The development of a vaccine to target S. aureus mammary gland chronic colonization and host cellular uptake in bovines would improve animal health. As well as reduce agricultural dependence on antibiotics, and inform human vaccine development. It is our objective to identify S. aureus surface proteins that are expressed in the bovine udder and that target the ECM for incorporation into a vaccine. We will characterize the role of these proteins in adhesion and cellular uptake in vitro. Along with pathogenicity in vivo in the mouse model.Â
Hypothesis
We hypothesize that modern methods to identify and characterize S. aureus ECM-binding adhesins will promote the development of an effective multivalent bovine vaccine. This can be used for mastitis that will have dual benefit in biomedicine and agriculture. Specifically, we propose to: 1) utilize proteomics and transcriptomics to identify bovine ECM-binding S. aureus vaccine antigens. 2) construct isdA S. aureus deletion mutants to define IsdA-cellular and ECM interactions in vitro. 3) utilize a mouse model to define the contribution of IsdA in the pathogenesis of mastitis.  These studies represent advancements toward the development of a bovine S. aureus vaccine through the identification and characterization of antigens involved in bacterial-host interactions. Long term goals are expected to have positive impacts on both animal and human health.
In This Section:
- Allan Albig – COBRE Research, COBRE Investigator
- Brad Morrison – COBRE Research, COBRE Investigator
- Cheryl Jorcyk – COBRE Research, COBRE Mentor
- Clare Fitzpatrick – COBRE Research, COBRE Investigator
- Gunes Uzer, – COBRE Research, COBRE Investigator
- Juliette Tinker, COBRE Research and Investigator
- Ken Cornell, COBRE Research, Director Bioinformatics Core and Mentor
- Kristen Mitchell – COBRE Research, COBRE Investigator
- Lisa Warner, – COBRE Research, COBRE Investigator
- Richard Beard, – COBRE Research, COBRE Investigator
- Trevor Lujan, – COBRE Research, Mentor
- Zhangxian Deng, COBRE Research and Investigator
Finally, for more information regarding our COBRE Research and Investigators specific projects, go to the right.