Project: Harnessing the power of RNA vaccines and therapeutics
Villadangos Group
As the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines has demonstrated, RNA technology promises to revolutionise medicine. It is now possible to produce cheap and safe nanoparticles containing RNA to elicit protective immune memory against pathogens. These vaccines work because the RNA is used by the cells of the vaccinated individual to synthesize proteins that resemble components of the pathogen, triggering an immune response that protects against infection. RNA nanoparticles encoding can also be used for therapeutic applications. Here, the RNA drives the expression of immunoregulatory proteins, for example cytokines or anti-viral factors. Immunotherapeutic RNA may be useful to treat cancer, immunosuppression and autoimmunity. This project will examine how the cells of the immune system interact with, capture and use the RNA nanoparticles. This will allow us to design better RNA vaccines and effective RNA immunotherapies.
Supervisors:
Prof Jose Villadangos
Contact project supervisor for further
information and application enquiries
Villadangos Group
6 vacancies
The Villadangos group studies the first event that triggers adaptive immune responses: the presentation of pathogen or tumour antigens to T cells by Dendritic Cells, B cells and Macrophages. We are characterizing the development, regulation and impairment of antigen presenting cells by pathogens, inflammatory mediators and tumours. We are also dissecting the biochemical machinery involved in antigen capture, processing, and presentation. We use this knowledge to understand how T cell-dependent immunity is initiated and maintained and apply it to design better vaccines and immunotherapies against infectious agents and cancer.
All our projects are open to Honours/Master of Biomedical Science students and PhD/MPhil graduate researchers
Villadangos Group Current Projects
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The immune signature of sepsis
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Regulating macrophage 'eating' for cancer and pathogen control
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Trogocytosis: a novel communication system between cells of the immune system
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Improving the formation of protective immunity against human viruses
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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A novel link between metabolism and immune function: O-GlcNAc glycosylation
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Immunoregulatory functions of the MARCH family of ubiquitin ligases
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Understanding the causes of immune paralysis and secondary infections in sepsis and trauma patients
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Harnessing the power of RNA vaccines and therapeutics
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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MR1 – a molecular detection system for bacteria
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
Research degrees at the Doherty Institute are administered by the University of Melbourne.