ABSTRACTREBECCA DIANE POWELL. Production of Immunomodulatory Proteins in Glycine max for Use in Diagnostics and as Therapeutics. (Under the direction of DR. KENNETH L. BOST) Immunomodulatory proteins can be utilized in diagnostic assays, as tolerance therapies and in vaccine development. In the following studies, we describe the expression, characterization and use of two such proteins from the soybean expression platform: human thyroglobulin (hTG) and merozoite surface protein 119 (MSP119). We characterize the 1% TSP expression of human thyroglobulin, the primary auto antigen in Hashimoto's thyroid disease, in soybean. Our laboratory successfully purifies this vital diagnostic analyte and indicates its biological equivalency to human-derived thyroglobulin. Furthermore, we demonstrate the usefulness of soy-derived hTG in preventing and inhibiting the progression of Hashimoto's thyroid disease in the murine model. While unable to express MSP 119 at the same level in the soybean seed, we use the following studies to further characterize the expression constructs that generate the greatest success in producing a soy-derived protein and optimize the process that leads to the use of oral delivery in vaccine development.