The objective of this contract is to conduct a two-year study on conjugated aptamers as antimicrobial agents to produce DNA aptamers conjugated with C1q- and Fc-domain proteins to create a biologic therapeutic with immunomodulatory antimicrobial activity against bacterial pathogens for wound infection. This shall include producing DNA aptamers that bind to the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa; conjugating DNA aptamers to recombinant C1q protein and to recombinant IgG Fc domain protein to produce C1q- and Fc-conjugated DNA aptamers; validating that C1q- and Fc-conjugated DNA aptamers bind to Pseudomonas aeruginosa; and delivering C1q- and Fc-conjugated DNA aptamers to WRAIR, AFRIMS for testing, located in Bangkok, Thailand.
