LEAPS-MPS: Structural and Functional Characterization of Tick Vaccine Antigen Homologs

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). In this project, funded by the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and housed in the Chemistry Division, Professor Erica Jacobs and her students at Saint John’s University will study the relationship between the structure of a chemical (Bm86, a recombinant protein) found in a bovine anti-tick vaccine and its function.

These studies are expected to provide insight into how Bm86 provides immunity from ticks. Prof. Jacobs’s broadening participation plan includes paying undergraduate and MS students (at Saint John’s University, a minority serving institution) to support their research experiences in place of external jobs, and development of course-based undergraduate research (CURE) experiences that will introduce a much broader audience to research experiences than would otherwise be possible.

She will also increase her ongoing efforts to incorporate antiracist pedagogy into Chemistry courses.

Professor Jacobs proposes to examine structural parameters of the recombinant protein Bm86, which is an anti-tick vaccine antigen, and its homologs, with the hypothesis that particular structural features of Bm86 and its homologs in the tick Ixodes scapularis underlie the effectiveness of immune responses directed against them. She will also examine functional parameters of Bm86 homologs by defining their protein interactomes in tick cell homogenates and bovine blood via an affinity purification approach, with the hypothesis that Bm86 homologs bind to cellular or extracellular matrix receptors in the tick gut, leading to cell signaling and/or adhesion events.

It is further hypothesized that these proteins, which are expressed in the lumen of the tick gut, may have additional binding partners in bovine blood, identification of which may lead to insight as to function of these proteins. Proposed work is highly collaborative and will provide research experiences to undergraduate and MS students from groups traditionally underrepresented in science.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.