AFROStrep Team joins international venture

The Institute is thrilled to announce that the AFROStrep research group, situated within the Cape Heart Institute (CHI), will be part of the Immunity to Streptococcus pyogenes Network (iSPY) project, sponsored by the Leducq Foundation.

iSPY-LIFE unites with the iSPY-EXPLORE taskforce to constitute the iSPY-Network with the aim to deliver novel insights into the mechanisms and correlates of natural and vaccine-induced immune protection to Group A Streptococcus (GAS).  The specific contribution will be to develop, from adult samples, an enhanced IVIG (Intravenous Immunoglobulin) formulation enriched with GAS-specific antibodies to allow for the identification of antibodies that could potentially be used as vaccine targets. “An understanding of why adults are more resistant to GAS infections compared to children, has the potential to inform a robust, effective vaccine” said Taariq Salie, doctoral fellow on the project under the supervision of Prof Mark Engel.

Previous research emanating from AFROStrep has highlighted the prominence of GAS infections in South Africa and the African continent as a whole.  “We are grateful for the opportunity, as an LMIC, through the generous funding of the Leducq Foundation, to participate in this groundbreaking research with our collaborators under the leadership of Prof Shiranee Sriskandan at Imperial College, London, UK”. concluded Engel