Scripps Research: Improving vaccine design for Ebola, HIV and more

Scripps Research news release

Viruses are masters at invading our cells thanks to specialized proteins that coat their surfaces. When scientists design vaccines, they often create versions of these viral surface proteins to study how our immune systems might respond. But those lab-made proteins typically lack key parts that sit within the virus’ membrane, so they don’t always behave the way they would on a real virus. This has made it difficult to understand how antibodies actually identify and neutralize these viral targets.

Now, scientists at Scripps Research, in collaboration with IAVI and other institutes, have created a platform that allows viral surface proteins to be studied in a form that more closely resembles how they appear naturally. The new approach utilizes nanodisc technology where these proteins are embedded into particles made of lipid molecules, preserving them in a membrane-like structure. This could help guide vaccine research by better revealing how antibodies and viral proteins interact.

Outlined in Nature Communications, the platform was tested using proteins from HIV and Ebola: two viruses that have long challenged vaccine developers because their surface proteins are difficult for the immune system to target effectively. However, the approach could be applied broadly to other viruses with similar membrane-embedded proteins, such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2.

Read the full news release here.