Professor Oliver Pérez

Country: Cuba

Institution: Instituto de Ciencias Básicas y Preclínicas “Victoria de Girón”, Universidad de ciencias Médicas de la Habana, Havana, Cuba

Research Areas: Nature and Nurture influences over immune response in:

• critical stages of life (premature/low weight birth, lactation, caesarean, immunocomplexes and elderly)
• mucosa (mucosal adjuvant and vaccines, mucosal IgA response against pathogen and commensal, cross-reactive IgA response, Gonorrhoea protection, mucosal response)
• low grade Inflammation (diabetes, alcoholism, senescence, obesity and infertility)
• non-transmissible chronic diseases (allergy, spinocerebellar Ataxia)
• transmissible diseases (malaria, HIV)
• Psiconeuroendocrineimmune (effect of neuronal hypothalamus deletion over obesity, lactation, reproduction and vaccine response in mice, acute and chronic stress and immune response).

Development of an adjuvant platform from pathogen and commensal (probiotic) for parenteral and mucosal vaccines. Development of new vaccination strategy (SinTimVaS) using simultaneous mucosal and parenteral priming that overcome the requirement of multiple vaccine doses and functions with several antigens at prophylactic and therapeutic levels in mice. Evaluation of mucosal IgA response against saccharides from probiotics and food that are present in a healthy subject but not in subjects with digestive inflammatory diseases. Premature children induce similar and TT & anti HBsAg IgG responses, but they require antibiotic therapy in conjunction with delivery by caesarean; this affects the microbiota and so, induces allergy which is confirmed at 4 years old. Malaria and tolerance in mice can be overcome using a potent adjuvant.