Genomics, Proteomics and Vaccines

The complete genome sequences of many bacteria are available, and comparisons of pathogenic strains with non pathogenic relatives are becoming more common. This will enable researchers to target vaccine development towards specific gene products that traditional approaches of vaccine research failed to discover.

While the sequence of the human genome sequence has hit the headlines, extensive exploitation of this for practical applications is still to come. Genomic and post-genomic technologies applied to viral and bacterial pathogens, which are almost equally important from a scientific perspective, have the potential to be translated into useful products and processes much more rapidly. Genomics, Proteomics and Vaccines introduces the history of vaccinology and discusses how vaccines are expected to evolve in the future. It describes the relevant technologies, including genome sequencing and analysis, DNA microarrays, 2D electrophoresis and 2D chromatography, mass spectrometry and high-throughput protein expression and purification. The book also features examples of the exploitation of genomics and post-genomics in vaccine discovery, and contains useful descriptions of the biology and pathogenesis of clinically important bacterial pathogens. This book should be of interest to all those working in vaccine discovery and development in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as in academic institutions