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Vaccine development: upping the ante

Year:
2020
Duration:
36 months
Approved budget:
$596,504.10
Researchers:
Associate Professor Bridget Stocker
,
Dr Emma Dangerfield
,
Associate Professor Mattie Timmer
,
Professor Sho Yamasaki
,
Dr Kensuke Shibata
,
Dr Jacelyn Loh
,
Professor Thomas Proft
,
Professor Dr Ulrich Maus
Health issue:
Infectious disease
Proposal type:
Consolidator Grant
Lay summary
To be effective, vaccines need to engage both the adaptive and innate arms of the immune system. This, in turn, requires a vaccine to contain an antigen (i.e. an immunogenic substance, be that from a pathogen or tumour-derived antigen) and an adjuvant (to enhance and moderate the intensity and type of immune response). The focus of my research programme is the development of vaccine adjuvants to augment the immune response to antigens, and in particular, the development of vaccine adjuvants to enhance vaccines against the infectious diseases Group A Streptococcus and Streptococcus Pneumoniae, as well as anti-cancer adjuvants for the treatment of colorectal cancer. To achieve this goal I will leverage my seminal findings and patented research in the vaccine adjuvant space and my unique skill-set at the interface of chemical synthesis and immunology.