Dr. Sylvia van Drunen Littel-van den Hurk, Ph.D.
Contact
Responsibilities:
♦ Program Manager: Viral Pathogenesis & Vaccine Development
♦ Member of Science Management Team
♦ Member: Immune modulation using CpG motifs; Neonatal Vaccines
Education:
♦ Department of Veterinary Microbiology, University of Saskatchewan: Ph.D. “Characterization of BHV-1 glycoproteins”.
♦ Departments of Plant Pathology, Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Wageningen, the Netherlands: M.Sc. and B.Sc.
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Research interests:
♦ DNA vaccines: Little is known about the use of DNA as a method of vaccinating large animals. My research group was one of the first to take the approach of DNA immunization into large species, and we are still one of the few working on DNA immunization of ruminants. Our focus is to enhance cellular and nuclear entry of the DNA vaccine (plasmids) to optimize immune responses.
♦ CpG motifs: An exciting discovery in immune modulation is the ability of unmethylated, CpG-rich DNA sequences to stimulate the innate immune system. These CpG motifs have potential applications as adjuvants in vaccines, as anti-cancer drugs, as anti-viral and -bacterial medicines and as treatment for allergies. We were the first to identify and characterize immunostimulatory motifs for veterinary species.
♦ Bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1): Herpesviruses cause significant primary and recurrent infections worldwide. BHV-1 is a severe cattle disease and is an excellent model for studying herpesvirus infections in general. Our current focus is the structural and functional characterization of BHV-1 tegument proteins, which have several intriguing properties.
♦ Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV): Human RSV (HRSV) is the leading cause of bronchiolitis and viral pneumonia in infants and young children, resulting in the hospitalization of up to 2 per cent of children in their first year of life. Bovine RSV (BRSV) is a major respiratory pathogen in calves. Both viruses are closely related. Since there are no effective vaccines for HRSV, we are using BRSV as a model to evaluate novel vaccine formulations for eventual application in humans. |
