After years of steady decline during the 1990s, syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection caused by the uncultivatable spirochete Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (TPA), has undergone a dramatic resurgence in the United States, particularly among men who have sex with men. Syphilis also poses a major threat globally with an estimated 5.6 million new cases annually and 350,000 adverse pregnancy outcomes due to mother-to-child transmission. The inability of epidemiological approaches to curtail the spread of syphilis underscores the need for a safe and effective vaccine. Our CRC proposal is based on the premise that our success identifying and topologically characterizing TPA outer membrane proteins (OMPs) translates to a roadmap for a vaccine against geographically widespread TPA strains.

Sustainable Development Goals

Masaryk University is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to improve the conditions and quality of life on our planet by 2030.