The main and most important feature of vaccines is the induction of an immunological memory response, which is key to providing long-term protection against pathogens. The current strategies for potent antibacterial and antiviral vaccines employ conjugation of pathogen specific entities onto carrier proteins, and are limited to formulations that suffer from low stability and short shelf-lives, and are thus not viable in developing countries. Strategies for the development of new vaccinations against endogenous diseases like cancer further remain an unmet challenge, since current methodologies suffer from a lack of a modular and tailored vaccine-specific functionalisation. SupraVacc therefore proposes a new design approach for the development of fully synthetic molecular vaccines, using carbohydrate and glycopeptide appended epitopes that are grafted onto supramolecular building blocks. These units can be individually designed to attach disease specific antigens and immunostimulants. Due to their self-assembling properties into nanoscaled pathogen mimetic particles, they serve as a supramolecular subunit vaccine toolbox. By developing a universal supramolecular polymer platform, we will construct multipotent vaccines from glycan-decorated peptides, that combine the activity of protein conjugates with the facile handling, precise composition and increased stability of traditional small molecule pharmaceutical compounds. SUPRAVACC will pioneer the design of minimalistic and broadly applicable vaccines, and will evaluate the supramolecular engineering approach for immunisations against antibacterial diseases, as well as for applications as antitumour vaccine candidates.
Members involved: Riem Attariya (PhD student), Jessica Erlenbusch (PhD student), Niklas Herrmann (PostDoc), Nicole Hutter (PhD student), Christian Merfels (PhD student), Chloé Pascouau (PostDoc), Arka Som (PostDoc), Marius Thomas (PostDoc).
News
Link to the press release of the European Research Council.
Link to the press release (EN, DE) of the University of Mainz.
Publications
[10] The Impact of Single Amino Acid Insertion on the Supramolecular Assembly Pathway of Aromatic Peptide Amphiphiles.A. Higuchi, A. Som, R. Wakabayashi*, M. Goto*, N. Kamiya*, P. Besenius*,
Chem. Eur. J. 2025, accepted for publication. DOI: 10.1002/chem.202404233. [9] Aliphatic Poly(carbonates) with Acid Degradable Ketal Side Groups as Multi-pH-Responsive Immunodrug Nanocarriers.
A.V. Hauck, P. Komforth, J. Erlenbusch, J. Stickdorn, K. Radacki, H. Braunschweig, P. Besenius, S. Van Herck, L. Nuhn*,
Biomater. Sci. 2025, accepted for publication. DOI: 10.1039/d4bm00949e. [8] Selective Antibody-Drug Conjugates for Targeted Cancer Therapy.
T. Bopp, P. Besenius, R. Attariya-Hefnawy, N. Stergiou, H. Kunz, E. Schmitt, 2024, EP24190636. [7] Cucurbit[8]uril Mediated Supramolecular and Photocrosslinked Interpenetrating Network Hydrogel Matrices for 3D-Bioprinting.
Y. Wang*, A.M. Bimmermann, M. Neufurth, P. Besenius*,
Adv. Mater. 2024, 36, 2313270. DOI: 10.1002/adma.202313270. [6] Regulating H2S Release from Self-Assembled Peptide H2S-Donor Conjugates using Cysteine Derivatives.
Z. Li, M. Thomas, C.M. Berač, O.S. Stach, P. Besenius*, J.B. Matson*,
Org. Biomol. Chem. 2024, 22, 8173-8181. DOI: 10.1039/d4ob01148a. [5] Supramolecular Assembly and Thermogelation Strategies using Peptide-Polymer Conjugates.
C. Pascouau, M. Schweitzer, P. Besenius*,
Biomacromolecules 2024, 25, 2659-2678. DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.4c00031. [4] MUC1 Glycopeptide Vaccine Modified with a GalNAc Glycocluster Targets the Macrophage Galactose C-Type Lectin on Dendritic Cells to Elicit an Improved Humoral Response.
A. Gabba*, R. Attariya, S. Behren, C. Pett, J.C. van der Horst, H. Yurugi, J. Yu, M. Urschbach, J. Sabin, G. Birrane, E. Schmitt, S.J. van Vliet‡, P. Besenius‡, U. Westerlind‡, P.V. Murphy‡,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 24, 13027-13037. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c12843. (‡ joint senior authors) [3] Impact of Sample History and Solvent Effects on Pathway Control in the Supramolecular Polymerisation of Au(I)-Metallopeptide Amphiphiles.
M. Thomas, V. Lewe, J. Kölsch, M. Urschbach, J. Erlenbusch, O.S. Stach, P. Besenius*,
Polym. Chem. 2023, 14, 1888-1892. DOI: 10.1039/d3py00053b. [2] A Modular Platform of Carbohydrates-Modified Supramolecular Polymers Based on Dendritic Peptide Scaffolds.
L. Li, L. Wu, M. Urschbach, D. Straßburger, X. Liu, P. Besenius*, G. Chen*,
ACS Polym. Au 2022, 2, 478–485. DOI: 10.1021/acspolymersau.2c00032. [1] The Development of Vaccines from Synthetic Tumor-Associated Mucin Glycopeptides and their Glycosylation-Dependent Immune Response.
N. Stergiou*, M. Urschbach, A. Gabba, E. Schmitt, H. Kunz, P. Besenius*,
Chem. Rec. 2021, 21, 3313-3331. DOI: 10.1002/tcr.202100182.
Outreach
[2] Institute of Chemistry of Ireland (ICI) Online Postgraduate Chemistry Research Symposium. 9/9/2020.Career Talk, from 2019 ICI Postgraduate Award winner.
Adele Gabba. [1] German Academic International Network, Virtual Annual Conference, GAIN20, 28-29/8/2020.
Experiences of a Marie-Curie IEF & ERC CoG Fellow.
Pol Besenius.