New approaches to mucosal and parenteral vaccination against animal tuberculosis and characterization of the mechanisms of immunity induced by vaccination and infection in different animal models. immunity induced by vaccination and infection in different animal models.

The specific objectives of the subproject are:
1) Optimization of in vitro functional assays to study the effects of vaccination on macrophage phagocytic ability and assays to identify vaccine-induced immune memory markers.
2) Evaluation and characterization of trained and specific immunity induced by new mucosal vaccines and vaccination strategies against tuberculosis in the goat model.
3) Study of the protection conferred by new mucosal vaccines and/or vaccination regimens against experimental challenge with Mycobacterium caprae in the goat model.