POTSDAM -- A Clarkson researcher will assist in a Trudeau Institute project aimed at fighting streptococcus pneumoniae.

Devon Shipp’s lab will assist Elizabeth Leadbetter’s “Targeted Nanoparticle Vaccine Approach for Protection against Encapsulated Pathogens.”

The s. pneumoniaecauses causes ear infections, meningitis, pneumonia, and systemic septic disease which can be fatal, especially in young children and the elderly. Infection with s. pneumoniae remains a major public health threat responsible for the deaths of nearly half a million children a year, so new vaccine approaches are sorely needed, according to the Trudeau Institute.

The Trudeau project is being funded through a $536,000 National Science Foundation grant.

The Shipp lab will synthesize and characterize the nanoparticles before testing. In addition to the Leadbetter and Shipp lab scientific staff, a Clarkson undergraduate student spent time in both labs working on this project in 2014 and another student will participate this summer to help continue the project.