Naturally acquired immunity against important bacterial pathogens in Bruce County First Nations communities

The goal of this proposal is to clarify the reasons for an increased burden of serious bacterial infections caused by two common pathogens: Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae in Canadian First Nations. Methodology includes comparative analysis of the critical parameters of naturally acquired immunity against these pathogens in adult First Nations individuals living in two different geographical areas with diverse environmental conditions (Southern Ontario versus Northwestern Ontario). As normal adults are expected to have immunity against common pathogens due to the natural expose to their antigenic compounds, a lack of immunity may indicate potential reason for an increased disease burden and provide important information for immunization policy as a preventive strategy. This work will contribute to building collaborative relationships between the industrial partner and local First Nations communities in Bruce County. Intern #1 will organize meetings with community leaders and membership and collect blood samples from 50 healthy First Nations adults from Southwestern Ontario and from 50 healthy First Nations adults from Northwestern Ontario by September 2015. The intern will perform laboratory testing of all collected serum samples with both ELISA and SBA, followed by statistical analysis of the data and will write a research manuscript.

Faculty Supervisor:

Marina Ulanova

Student:

Gabrielle Gaultier, Eli Nix

Partner:

Bruce Power

Discipline:

Medicine

Sector:

Energy

University:

Lakehead University