Team 23

Bacterial Surface Display for Dengue Virus

Team Members: Jennifer Brodsky
Nicholas Lee
Michelle Mungaray

Team Mentors: Benjamin Bartelle, PhD - SBHSE
Dr. Susan Holechek

YouTube Link: View the video link below before joining the zoom meeting

Zoom Link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/82613194327

Abstract

Dengue virus is a viral disease with four different strains that is transmitted by infected mosquitoes. Dengue virus kills approximately 22,000 people per year and infects around 400 million people. Furthermore, the countries most affected by the virus do not have the infrastructure to fight the disease. An effective therapy for Dengue Virus has yet to be developed due to difficulties with identifying a neutralizing agent to combat all four serotypes. DNA libraries are a commonly used research tool to search for specific DNA fragments. With the library, researchers are able to identify and isolate their desired fragments. Currently, yeast is used for surface display techniques or phages built from constructed libraries of up to 10^9 candidates. However, researchers face limitations as libraries of this size are difficult to construct, and require additional rounds of mutation. The proposed project will provide researchers the opportunity to display a self-generating and rapidly evolving library of antibodies that respond to targets displayed on cell surfaces. Instead of yeast, the team will employ a phage to both generate the library and select for optimal binding to a bacterially displayed target. By combining phage assisted continuous evolution (PACE) with bacterial surface display, antibody libraries can be developed at a scale 1000 times that of current antibody selection. Successful completion of the project will result in a platform technology targeted towards Dengue Virus, with the intent of also creating a versatile model that pharmaceuticals could employ to accelerate biologic drug development.