Antigen Discovery and Design for Veterinary Viral Vaccines
A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Viruses".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 7
Special Issue Editors
Interests: porcine viruses; coronaviruses; influenza virus; vaccines; PEDV; PRRSC; mink viruses; antivirals; zoonotic viruses
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: PRRSV; influenza; ASFV; vaccine development; viral pathogenesis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Veterinary viral vaccines are entering a new era, driven by rapid progress in antigen discovery and rational antigen design. This Special Issue, “Antigen Discovery and Design for Veterinary Viral Vaccines”, welcomes studies that identify and prioritize protective antigens/epitopes, define correlates of protection, and engineer next-generation antigens that elicit broad, durable, and mucosal immunity across veterinary species. We encourage diverse approaches—from reverse/structural vaccinology and immunoinformatics to multi-omics, single-cell/spatial profiling, functional-genomic screens, and systems serology—as well as platform development (e.g., subunit/VLPs, nanoparticles, mRNA/DNA, and viral vectors) and adjuvant/delivery innovations. Imaging and structural methods (e.g., cryo-EM, crystallography, in situ mapping) are welcome as complementary tools when they inform antigen selection, display, or tissue targeting, but they are not the primary focus of this SI. Submissions may address livestock and companion-animal pathogens and One Health interfaces.
Topics of interest include (non-exhaustive):
- Antigen discovery and prioritization: reverse/structural vaccinology, pan-genome and antigenic landscape analyses, immunodominance refocusing, conserved epitope mapping (B- and T-cell).
- Antigen design and display: epitope scaffolding, mosaic/multivalent and nanoparticle designs, VLPs, glycan and stability engineering, thermostabilization.
- Platforms, adjuvants, and delivery: mRNA/DNA, protein subunit, viral vectors, mucosal vaccination, DIVA-compatible designs.
- Evaluation and translation: neutralization and systems-serology readouts, cell-mediated immunity, correlations of protection, maternal-antibody interference, field/challenge studies.
- Pathogen evolution and breadth: antigenic drift/escape, breadth-enhancing strategies, cross-protection across strains/species.
- Enabling methods: single-cell B/T repertoire, deep mutational scanning, high-throughput display screens, imaging/structural studies that directly guide antigen design.
We welcome original research articles, reviews, communications/brief reports, and technical notes. Please consult Viruses’ “Instructions for Authors” for submission and formatting.
Prof. Dr. Levon Abrahamyan
Dr. Hiep Vu
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- antigen discovery
- antigen design
- reverse/structural vaccinology
- immunoinformatics
- epitope mapping (B/T)
- vaccines
- adjuvants
- VLP/nanoparticle platforms
- mRNA/DNA vaccines
- DIVA
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