Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Duration: 1.9.2012 – 31.8.2016

Attenuated viral vectors used as delivery system for heterologous immunogens are supposed to be more potent inductors of immune responses than inactivated viruses or purified proteins. In collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur we are developing novel live-attenuated Flavivirus-based vectors for the delivery of HIV immunogens based on Sanofi's RepliVax® platform. For this, we are designing specially adapted HIV-derived immunogens with improved expression and stability. The novel vaccine candidates will subsequently be characterized for the induction of broad T- and B-cell responses. In addition, to further improve the vaccine's potency, strategies will be developed allowing specific targeting of immunogens to dendritic cells (DCs) via antibodies directed against DC cell surface molecules.