Novel mRNA vaccine prevents and treat C. difficile

This work wouldn't have been possible without the dedication and hard work of my co-first author @MGAlameh and our collaborative research team in the @Weissmanlab, @joeyzacks laboratories, and beyond. A huge thank you to all who contributed to this groundbreaking study

We believe this study is a step forward in the ultimate eradication of C. diff and shows the incredible potential of the mRNA-LNP platform in the fight against infectious diseases. Our findings open new avenues for vaccine development against other complex bacterial infections

The durability of vaccine responses to both acute and recurrent re-infection events is a significant finding. This could be crucial in preventing the debilitating cycle of recurrent C. diff infections

We show that despite eliciting robust cellular and humoral immunity and antibody translocation into the gut, the vaccine doesn't negatively impact the healthy or antibiotic-perturbed gut microbiota (an important factor when designing therapeutics for CDI)

This vaccine protects against severe acute and relapsing C. diff infection by inducing a robust immune response in mice. In doing so it promotes clearance of toxigenic C. diff and even overcomes toxin-dependent deficits in adaptive immunity when given after initial infection

I’m proud to share our recent publication describing the development of a multivalent mRNA-LNP vaccine for C. difficile that incorporates targets across C. diff’s complex life cycle

Really excited to share our labs first paper published today in @Nature. This work was led by the amazingly talented @Brokaryote, who found that enterococci enhance C. diff fitness and pathogenesis by metabolically remodeling the gut during infection.

Our study on how fungal strain diversity (through specific fungal and host immune factors!) defines host-mycobiota interactions in intestinal #immunity and #IBD is out now @Nature @lixinxunle1 @WeillCornell / https://t.co/Ul9m1o79yI