Postdoctoral project Nicola Palmieri

Principal investigator: Prof A. Joachim

Funding: Vetmeduni Vienna

Abstract: Coccidiosis is a widespread disease of suckling piglets caused mainly by the eukaryotic parasite Cystoisospora suis, which induces profuse diarrhea and growth retardation and results in severe economic losses. Up to date, no vaccine is currently available. Moreover, no genomic resources have been yet generated for this species. In this study we evaluate the potential for reverse vaccinology to identify vaccine candidates protective against Cystoisospora suis. Our approach consists of in silico screening of the putative parasite proteome to predict proteins likely to induce an appropriate immune response, building on comparable screens applied previously with many bacterial species.