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Honorary Professor, University of York

Professor S.S. Vasan, who goes by his surname, is Honorary Professor of Health Sciences at the University of York (UK) and Honorary Professor of Medical and Health Sciences at the Edith Cowan University (Australia).

During 2019 to 2022, as CSIRO's COVID-19 science leader based at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP), formerly the Australian Animal Health Laboratory, he led on research, development and preclinical evaluation of medical countermeasures for dangerous pathogens affecting humans and animals (zoonoses), especially those requiring high containment at biosafety level 3 or 4. The portfolio of projects he successfully initiated and led as Principal Investigator includes COVID-19 systems biology case control study in Victoria (CSIRO in partnership with Barwon Health and Deakin University), finding repurposed drugs for COVID-19 (MRFF), preclinical development of a warm vaccine and antibody therapy (Mynvax), and research on how the SARS-CoV-2 virus is mutating and its impact on vaccines and countermeasures (FDA). He led his ACDP project team to the Chairman's Medal 2020, the highest award bestowed by the national science agency of Australia, for critical preclinical evaluation studies on the Oxford-AZ (adenoviral) and Inovio (DNA) vaccines.

He was previously at the equivalent high containment facility in Porton Down, UK, and prior to that with Oxford University’s spin-out Oxitec as Head of Public Health working on arboviral diseases. Fellow of several professional bodies, he obtained his doctorate from Trinity College, Oxford, on a Rhodes Scholarship.

Experience

  • 2017–present
    Honorary Professor of Health Sciences, University of York
  • 2023–present
    Honorary Professor of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University

Education

  • 1998 
    Trinity College, Oxford, Doctor of Philosophy

Publications

  • 2022
    Tracking co-occurrence of N501Y, P681R, and other key mutations in SARS-CoV-2 spike for surveillance, https://www.mdpi.com/2813-0227/2/3/14/htm
  • 2022
    Advances and gaps in SARS-CoV-2 infection models, https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1010161
  • 2022
    Evaluation of host protein biomarkers by ELISA from whole lysed peripheral blood for development of diagnostic tests for active tuberculosis, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.854327/abstract
  • 2022
    Highly thermotolerant SARS-CoV-2 vaccine elicits neutralising antibodies against Delta and Omicron in mice, https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/4/800/htm
  • 2022
    Characterisation and natural progression of SARS-CoV-2 infection in ferrets, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-08431-6
  • 2022
    At least three doses of leading vaccines essential for neutralisation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (Frontiers in Immunology, in press, doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.883612), https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.20.22271237
  • 2022
    Systematic down-selection of repurposed drug candidates for COVID-19, https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/19/11851/htm
  • 2022
    Use of human lung tissue models for screening of drugs against SARS-CoV-2 infection, https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/11/2417
  • 2022
    CoviRx: A user-friendly interface for systematic down-selection of repurposed drug candidates for COVID-19, https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/7/11/164/htm
  • 2022
    A time-series metabolomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a ferret model, https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/12/11/1151
  • 2021
    Live virus neutralisation of the 501Y.V1 and 501Y.V2 SARS-CoV-2 variants following INO-4800 vaccination of ferrets, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.694857
  • 2021
    ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine candidate significantly reduces SARS-CoV-2 shedding in ferrets, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-021-00315-6
  • 2021
    Unhelmeted two-wheeler riders in India, https://www.nmji.in/preprintarticle.asp?id=321683
  • 2021
    Altered microRNA expression in COVID-19 patients enables identification of SARS-CoV-2 infection, https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1009759
  • 2021
    But Mouse, you are not alone: On some severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants infecting mice, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ilar/ilab031
  • 2021
    Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a highly thermotolerant, trimeric SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain derivative, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00276
  • 2021
    A stabilized, monomeric, Receptor Binding Domain elicits high-titer neutralizing antibodies against all SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.765211/
  • 2021
    In vitro characterisation of SARS‐CoV‐2 and susceptibility of domestic ferrets (Mustela putorius furo), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/tbed.13978
  • 2021
    Metabolic profiling from an asymptomatic ferret model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo11050327
  • 2021
    Type I hypersensitivity in ferrets following exposure to SARS-CoV-2 inoculum: lessons learned, https://academic.oup.com/ilarjournal/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ilar/ilab019/6299200
  • 2020
    Animal models for COVID-19, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2787-6
  • 2020
    Decay of SARS-CoV-2 and surrogate murine hepatitis virus RNA in untreated wastewater to inform application in wastewater-based epidemiology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.110092
  • 2020
    Validation of differentially expressed immune biomarkers in latent and active tuberculosis by real-time PCR, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.612564/
  • 2020
    Interoperable medical data: the missing link for understanding COVID‐19, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tbed.13892
  • 2020
    Experimental and in silico evidence suggests vaccines are unlikely to be affected by D614G mutation in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-020-00246-8
  • 2020
    Supporting pandemic response using genomics and bioinformatics: A case study on the emergent SARS‐CoV‐2 outbreak, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tbed.13588