Main description:

This volume will address an important emergent area within the field of immunomics: the discovery of antigens and adjuvants within the context of reverse vaccinology. Conventional approaches to vaccine design and development requires pathogens to be cultivated in the laboratory and the immunogenic molecules within them to be identifiable. Conventional vaccinology is no longer universally successful, particularly for recalcitrant pathogens. By using genomic information we can study vaccine development in silico: 'reverse vaccinology', can identify candidate subunits vaccines by identifying antigenic proteins and by using equally rational approaches to identify novel immune response-enhancing adjuvants.

Contents:

Introduction.- Bacterial genomes and vaccine design.- Identification of candidate vaccine antigens in silico.- Post-Genomic Antigen Discovery: Bioinformatical Approaches to Reveal Novel T-Cell Antigens of Mycobacterium Bovis.- Genome-based Computational Vaccine Discovery by Reverse Vaccinology.- Computational prediction of protein subcellular localization, genomic islands, and virulence to aid antigen discovery.- On the development of Vaccine Antigen Databases: Progress, Opportunity, and Challenge.- What have Dendritic Cells ever done for adjuvant design? Cellular and Molecular Methods for the Rational Development of Vaccine Adjuvants.- Towards the Rational Discovery of Adjuvants.- Designing liposomes as vaccine adjuvants.- Enhancing the delivery and potency of antigens using non-ionic based vesicles.- Immune stimulating complexes (ISCOMs) and Quil-A containing particulate formulations as vaccine delivery systems.- Formulation and characterisation of PLGA microspheres as vaccine adjuvants.- Powder Vaccines for Pulmonary Delivery.