Team:Rock Ridge Virginia/Design

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Bacteria mimic/Living vaccine project

Our living vaccine has three major components:

• The Wolbachia surface protein (WSP), which will allow our bacteria to be transferred vertically (parent to offspring) by binding/interacting with the oocytes of the female insects and it also helps temper its immune reaction.
• The Lyme bacteria Outer Surface protein (OspA), which specifically binds the TROSPA receptor in the gut of the tick and it is indispensable for the Lyme bacteria colonization. OspA will help our bacteria colonize the gut of the insect and in that way the Lyme bacteria will not be able to get established, therefore rendering it harmless.
• A color indicator: GFP or RFP which will let scientist identify our "living vaccine" in the natural environment.

Most current solutions to prevent insect born diseases are pesticides, or physical barriers for individuals that maybe in contact with those insects. It is almost a loosing battle since the insects quickly develop resistance to those pesticides. Our solution does not focus on the insects but on the pathogen itself. We believe that for a pathogen to be effective, it first needs to get established in the insect, our bacteria will simulate the mechanism by which those pathogens colonize the insect preventing the initial infection in the first place. Another advantage is that if the bacteria loses the vector it will not be able to survive inside the insect and it will get lost.