Chief Investigator:

Dr Elizabeth Ngoc Hoa Tran

Funding Amount:

$65,000

Recipient:

The University of Adelaide

Overview:

Shigella is the leading cause of bacillary dysentery, a human inflammatory disease of the intestines that causes severe diarrhoea in children under the age of 5. Sugar structures (LPS O antigens) on Shigella’s surface have recently been shown to adhere directly to ABO blood group sugars on gut cells. This project will investigate the relationship between ABO blood groups and the adherence/invasion of different Shigella strains to cells, potentially determining if children of a certain blood type are more susceptible to infection, and providing informed approaches to vaccine developments.