Structural vaccinology starts to deliver

Abstract

Following the impact of the genomics revolution on vaccine research and the development of reverse vaccinology, it was predicted that another new approach, structure-based antigen design, would become a driving force for vaccine innovation. Now, 5 years on, there are several examples of how structure-based design, or structural vaccinology, can deliver new vaccine antigens that were not possible before. Here, we discuss some of these examples and the contribution of structural vaccinology to our understanding of the protective epitopes of important bacterial and viral pathogens. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.