Projects

The UW STI CRC includes three Scientific Projects supported by three Cores that provide centralized and efficient support in the clinical, laboratory, statistical and administrative domains. The Scientific Projects are fully integrated, both conceptually and operationally, such that discoveries made in one project inform the other projects. The projects focus upon the central theme of vaccine development for syphilis, using prioritized proteins that have been functionally well-characterized in our laboratories and have shown promising protection results. The current STI CRC leverages the knowledge gained in our prior studies with the goal of: (1) optimizing vaccinogen formulation and delivery to maximize protection against local and disseminated infection (Scientific Projects 1 and 2); (2) using innovative experimental techniques to define the protective epitopes of the selected vaccinogens (Scientific Project 3); and (3) investigating the humoral and cellular immune responses raised during T. pallidum infection (Scientific Project 3).