Phoenix Knipe

Mycobacteria are responsible for multiple human diseases such as leprosy, tuberculosis, and non-tuberculosis mycobacterial disease. Treatment of these diseases is increasingly difficult due to their cell envelope’s ability to acquire drug resistance. Recently, a new immune targeting strategy was developed utilizing cell surface engineering via modified trehalose glycoconjugates. This strategy installs the mycobacterial cell surface with anti-body recruiting molecules (ARMs), which identify mycobacteria for binding with human-endogenous antibodies. This study seeks to optimize the immune targeting of mycobacteria using the model organism Mycobacterium smegmatis. We will do this by comparing modified trehalose moieties, using their rates of uptake and subsequent macrophage killing as comparison metrics. Improved ARM strategies for mycobacteria could potentially lead to novel immunotherapies for treating mycobacterial infections.