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Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B infections are a serious health threat to the world that cannot be prevented by vaccination. Here, we report an analysis of the MC58 Neisseria meningitidis genome aimed at the identification of new potential vaccine candidates. 'Hypothetical' and 'conserved hypothetical' annotated genes, together with those with putative functions related to the cell envelope, were subjected to extensive sequence similarity searches, as well as motif, cellular location, and domain analyses complemented with manual curation. As a result, a set of 35 uncharacterized ORFs, predicted to encode for surface exposed or virulence related proteins, was identified. The candidates were subdivided in three categories: 1) predicted outer membrane proteins (OMPs) unique of the Neisseria genus; 2) conserved OMPs from various genus and 3) proteins homologous to known OMPs or to proteins previously found to be immunogenic in animal models. Two of the final candidates, nmb1126 and nmb0181, were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The resulting products were purified by Metal Chelating Chromatography and used to immunize mice. The recombinant proteins were capable of inducing antibodies against the native antigen in preparations of a panel of three strains and displayed bactericidal activity against the homologous strains.

The Keystone Symposia "Advancing vaccines in the genomic era" was held in the Convention Center of the Windsor Hotel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from October 31 to November 4. It was part of the Keystone Global Symposia series sponsored by Bill and Melinda Gates Fundation. Two-hundred and twenty delegates and more than a hundred of others participants around the world attended. The event was subdivided into 10 workshops covering 68 lectures and 120 posters on the latest results for vaccine design, development and testing, most of them with examples of the application of the Systems Biology approach with new technologies and an integral focus. The high quality of debates and researchers meetings brought about the general concerns on the main infectious diseases. They also provided an extraordinary opportunity to exchange about new ideas and to establish collaboration programs.

The conference Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination of the Keystone Symposia was held on December 13-18, 2012, in Ottawa, Canada. There were more than 400 participants from all over the world in the field of immunology and vaccine research. During five days, attendees had the possibility to present and discuss their current work and also to encourage new collaborations. Fifty-five oral presentations were grouped in seven sessions according to the following topics: Innate sensing of pathogens and vaccines, Augmenting immune response to vaccines, T and B cell memory to vaccines, Understanding signatures of vaccine protective efficacy, Translating immunity to vaccines and Vaccines against global threats. Additionally, more than 240 posters were presented and two workshops on Novel adjuvants and Vaccine delivery were organized. The quality of the papers presented at this conference shows that there is a global concern in eradicating chronic and re-emerging infectious diseases. Currently, a special attention is focused to the search for new and potent adjuvants and delivery systems that allows the generation of the immune response at the systemic and mucosal compartments to increase vaccine efficacy .