Nathaniel O’Bier, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
I studied at Virginia Commonwealth University where I received a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology in 2023, and a B.S. in Biology in 2014. Lyme disease is the most common arthropod-borne vector disease in North America, of which there are no reliable preventative solutions currently available to humans. My area of work is focused on identifying critical antigens expressed by Borreliella burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, on developing novel prevention vaccines for human Lyme disease. I have designed and created recombinant fusion proteins, named chimeritopes, targeting the most immunologically dominant epitopes of outer surface proteins required for B. burgdorferi's pathogenesis. I am collaborating with the NIH and Tulane University to test our vaccines in a non-human primate model to verify their potential use in humans. This work is in the critical steps of progressing the first human Lyme disease vaccine in the North American market in over 20 years.