Novel TB Therapeutics and Vaccines

In collaboration with Dr. Gary Ostroff (UMass Chan Department of Molecular Medicine) we are evaluating the use of engineered beta-glucan microparticles for targeted delivery of conventional antimicrobial agents for TB, as well as synthetic antimicrobial peptide mimetics compounds developed by Dr. Gregory Tew (UMass Amherst). In related studies, Dr. Lee in our group is developing glucan particle technology for TB vaccines co-delivering adjuvant plus antigen plus siRNA to silence regulatory genes that limit the maximum potential lymphocyte activation.