Engineering Bacterial Platforms for Next-Generation Vaccines and Antimicrobial Therapies: From Vectors to Translational Application

This Research Topic aims to consolidate advances in engineering bacteria and bacteria-derived systems into translational platforms for vaccination, immunomodulation, and antimicrobial intervention across human, veterinary, and industrial settings. The persistent burden of infectious disease, compounded by rising antimicrobial resistance and gaps in vaccine coverage for major pathogens, has renewed interest in bacterial biology as an engineering substrate rather than only a target for treatment. Live and attenuated bacterial vectors, along with the components they produce or can be engineered to display, offer a flexible chassis for antigen delivery, immune activation, and targeted microbial control that few other platforms can match for scalability and design control.Progress in this space is increasingly translational rather than purely mechanistic. Attenuated vector platforms are being engineered for heterologous antigen display and validated across species-specific disease models, from poultry and livestock to laboratory animals, extending their relevance well beyond human medicine into veterinary and agricultural application. In parallel, rational antigen design approaches, including multi-epitope strategies informed by pathogen stress biology and immune escape mechanisms, are sharpening the precision with which these vectors can be built. Effector molecules native to bacteria, whether membrane-derived structures or ribosomally synthesized peptides, add further modular components to this engineering toolkit when integrated into a vector-based delivery strategy, rather than studied as isolated agents.This Research Topic welcomes contributions that treat bacterial systems as an engineering platform spanning discovery through translational validation, including regulatory and scalability considerations. We are particularly interested in work that crosses disease areas or application domains, reflecting the breadth of this field. Topics of interest include:- Design and engineering of live or attenuated bacterial vectors for antigen or therapeutic delivery, including validation across human, veterinary, and livestock/poultry models;- Rational and multi-epitope antigen design strategies informed by pathogen immune evasion, stress-response signaling, or pathogenesis mechanisms;- Integration of bacterial-derived effectors (e.g., membrane vesicles, bacteriocins) as components within engineered vector or delivery systems, rather than as standalone agents;- Translational case studies spanning bacterial, viral, or parasitic disease targets, including tuberculosis and other high-burden infections;- Scalability, safety, manufacturing, and regulatory pathways for bacterial-platform vaccines and antimicrobials in clinical, veterinary, food-safety, or industrial contexts. Topic editors: Leonardo Acuña, Kirtimaan Syal, Chamith Hewawaduge Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84619/engineering-bacterial-platforms-for-next-generation-vaccines-and-antimicrobial-therapies-from-vectors-to-translational-application