The investigation of mechanisms, potential treatments, and vaccines for infectious diseases relies on animal models that can be infected by the same agent as humans and display similar symptoms. In many cases, such animals are not the typical, well-characterized research models, but rather non-traditional species. One example of this situation is the ferret model of influenza. A major drawback of non-traditional models is that their immune systems cannot be adequately investigated due to the lack of reagents, notably monoclonal antibodies, used for characterizing subsets of immune cells and the cytokines they produce. The production of such antibodies through traditional methods is laborious, time-consuming, and expensive. In Phase I of this project, we will use the EAP Immunization System to produce needed monoclonal antibodies for characterizing immune cells of the ferret. The EAP System uses small, easily produced, synthetic peptides for the induction and preliminary characterization of new antibodies. This methodology has been used by Silver Lake Research to produce hundreds of monoclonal antibodies for targets that were previously inaccessible. At the successful conclusion of this Phase I project, new reagents will be available to significantly enhance existing research capabilities for influenza, one of the most common infections worldwide.
