Characterisation of E. coli outer membrane vesicles by small angle neutron scattering

Vaccines are a promising solution to antimicrobial resistance as they help improve animal health and production as well as human health by providing safe foods, not to mention reducing the transmission of animal-diseases to humans. Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are naturally secreted by Gram-negative bacteria. They are proven to be safe in humans; OMVs are currently used as a main component of the licensed meningococcal serogroup B vaccines for humans. Genetic engineering of proteins inserted in OMVs will allow us to produce vaccines containing the desired antigens. However, the OMV heterogeneity is a main hurdle for its large-scale production. We aim to redesign OMVs with minimal components while maintaining its efficacy. The redesigned OMVs will be characterised by neutron scattering and other techniques to assess their stability in solutions.