Development of protein vaccines against antibiotic resistant Staphylococci

This exchange program includes Dr. Thiago Converso and Dr. Michelle Darrieux from Universidade São Francisco, Brazil and Dr. Anders P Hakansson from Lund University, Sweden. Dr. Converso will visit Sweden from October 2022 to February 2023 (5 months) and Dr. Darrieux’ visit will overlap with Dr. Converso’s for the last 3 months.

Dr. Hakansson will then visit Brazil from March to July 2023 (4 months).

The visits are timed to optimize the synergistic interactions between the collaborating teams and their Departments associated with the proposed project. During their visit to Sweden, Drs.

Converso and Darrieux will use physiological models and advanced bioinformatics techniques established by the Swedish team to identify promising vaccine targets against antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus and share their expertise in recombinant protein production and vaccine evaluation.

Additionally, their expertise is of great interest to numerous groups at the Department and around the university, which provides opportunities to interact with new and established collaboration partners. During his visit to Brazil, Dr.

Hakansson will synergize with the Brazilian team to produce recombinant vaccine candidates and establish optimal models to evaluate protective immunity against S. aureus infection. Dr.

Hakansson’s expertise in microbiology and immunology will also allow interactions with several other teams at the hosting institution and at neighboring institutions.