Pint of Postdoc Speaker Recap - Dr. Anna York

“Separation of pneumococcal serotypes from a mixed sample: A magnetic bead-based method”

Dr. Anna York

Edited by: Aileen Fernandez

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a bacteria found in the nasopharynx of many healthy children and adults worldwide, however, in susceptible individuals such as the very young, elderly or immunocompromised this bacteria can be the cause of diseases such as pneumonia and meningitis. The bacteria is surrounded by an external layer called capsule, and 100 varieties of capsule (serotypes) exist.

For the August 2021 Pint of Postdoc series,  Anna York shared how she has developed a magnetic bead-based antibody method which allows us to separate a specific serotype of interest from a mixed serotype sample. This method can be used to better understand how different serotypes exchange genetic DNA and switch to become a different serotype (serotype switching). Serotype switching is a major driver of serotype replacement which ultimately prevents the vaccines from reducing disease burden. This improved ability to study serotype switching and the associated mutants may help guide the development of future vaccines for Streptococcus pneumoniae. Furthermore, with additional development this method may be used for isolating specific serotypes from clinical samples such as saliva.