Why Structural Biology for vaccinology?

In the post-genomic era, one of the challenges of vaccine biologist is that of exploiting the wealth of information that become available on the pathogen. One effective approach is that of merging vaccine development with structural biology. Structural biology applied to vaccinology (structural vaccinology) can provide a tremendous help in the design and optimization of vaccines against diseases that cannot be not defeat using other approaches (1,2) . Indeed in recent years this integrated approach allowed the development of highly effective vaccines, such as the glycoconjugate vaccines against severe infections caused by Streptococcus pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae type b and Neisseria meningitides (2, 3). The inclusion of structural biology approach in the strategy for vaccine development has also revitalized hopes for developing a universal influenza vaccine (4). The structure-based strategy also allows the design of more effective veterinary vaccines, for example the FMD virus like particle (VLP) vaccines and bovine RSV (bRSV) fusion (F) protein (5, 6).

 

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