Development of mucosal vaccines based in crosslinked-mucin glycoproteins and chitosan-based nanodevices

This Project aims to evaluate a biomimetic mucus gel (BMG) for its use as mucosal vaccine and mucosal restoration for farmed fish.

In addition, through a joint experimental and computational approach, rationalizing the design of chitosan (CS)-based nanodevices (ND) to load in BMG to apply on both healthy and disrupted mucosal surfaces.

The aim of this project is to develop a treatment for improving animal health and welfare that are important goals in blue economy . The research work will be developed by the applicant, Dr. Collado González, in the group of Prof. María Ángeles Esteban (supervisor) at the University of Murcia (UM, host).

Farmed fish constitutes an essential way for providing dietary proteins and nutrients and they are used as a medical research model.

In 2016 in EU, aquaculture resulted in about 75000 jobs and 1.3 million tonnes of aquatic animals which resulted in a gross value added of €2 billion in 2017. In fish, all surfaces are covered with mucus layer that is connected to the mucosal immunity. Mucins (MUC) are glycoproteins present at any mucosal surface .

Among other functions, MUC increase lubricity of the mucosa and avoid infection by pathogens. CS refers to a family of aminopolysaccharides that have been proposed for the treatment of pathologies related to MUC.

The characterization of the effects of the BMG on the metabolic and phagocytic activities as well as the viability of immune system cells will allow to optimize the BMGs to develop an effective mucosal treatment.

A key issue in the development of applications in the field is that MUC and CS are families of flexible polymers with high variability in their properties and behaviour, reason why their interactions at the molecular level are difficult to unravel and not fully understood.

Elucidating the main physicochemical forces behind such interactions will allow the optimization of transmucosal CS-based ND.