Dr. Anthony Bernard Schryvers
Positions
Professor
Cumming School of Medicine
Full Member
The Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases
Child Health & Wellness Researcher
Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute
Contact information
Phone number
Office: +1 (403) 220-3703
Background
Educational Background
B.S. Biological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 1976
Doctor of Medicine Medicine, University of Calgary, 1984
Doctor of Philosophy Biochemistry, University of Alberta, 1981
Research
Areas of Research
My research program is focused on developing new vaccines designed to eliminate important infections in children. We are using a novel and sophisticated approach for designing vaccines that target a critical function that is common to several important pathogens that cause meningitis, ear infections, and other respiratory diseases. The bacteria that cause these infections, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis, rely on surface receptors that acquire iron necessary for growth from the host iron-binding proteins, transferrin, and lactoferrin. Since these bacteria rely on the surface proteins to survive in the upper respiratory tract where they normally live and also require the receptors during infection, they cannot eliminate the receptors to escape the vaccine. In our approach, we use 'structure-based protein engineering' to design antigens and test their ability to react against all known variants of the protein. In addition, our vaccines are capable of preventing colonization of the upper respiratory tract in addition to preventing disease, providing the potential to eliminate the disease-causing bacteria. Our approach is also being applied to important disease in food production animals, providing 'proof of principle' that our vaccines can be effective, before introducing our vaccines into humans.
Participation in university strategic initiatives
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