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Professor of Vaccinology, University of Oxford

For more than ten years we have been making and testing vaccines designed to induce T cell responses to the antigens we encode, chiefly using antigens from malaria and tuberculosis. We have had most success with heterologous prime-boost regimes using either a DNA vaccine or recombinant fowlpox or adenovirus to prime a response and recombinant MVA to boost it. Several of the vaccines we have developed have progressed into clinical trials. We continue to work on finding the most efficient way to induce a protective T cell response by vaccination and are exploring a number of novel ways to do this.
Recombinant adenoviruses for clinical trials can now be produced to GMP by the University's Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility. Staff at the CNF work closely with academics to prepare batches of new vaccines for clinical trials.
In 2008 clinical trials of a new 'flu vaccine began in Oxford. Most adults already have memory T cell responses to 'flu antigens, but over time these fall below protective levels. The new vaccine, MVA-NP+M1 boosts these low level responses to very high levels. The next stage will be to test if these t cell responses can prvent people from being infected with 'flu.

Experience

  • –present
    Professor of Vaccinology, University of Oxford