Vaccinology
Lead Research Organisation:
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Vaccines are among the most successful tools available for protecting public health, but effective vaccines are still lacking for many infectious diseases that are important in Africa – including HIV, viruses that cause major outbreaks in African populations, and parasitic diseases including worm infections. As well, vaccines work better in some communities than others, with poor communities in rural, low-income, tropical settings often at a disadvantage.
Our theme will contribute to
• Developing new vaccines of particular importance for Africa, and testing them in clinical trials – for example vaccines against viruses such as Rift Valley Fever which causes outbreaks among humans and farm animals in East Africa, and against debilitating worm infections such as schistosomiasis
• Understanding how best to employ vaccines in Africa – for example how vaccines can be combined with other preventive measures against HIV, or what the most appropriate dosing schedules are for particular age groups and needs
• Investigating why some vaccines work differently in different communities, and working with communities to develop strategies that enable them to benefit from vaccines to the full
• Understanding how different communities learn about, understand and perceive vaccines, and what makes people confident to use them
• Building vaccine research expertise among African researchers
This work will contribute to ensuring that African communities secure the maximum possible benefit from vaccines.
Our theme will contribute to
• Developing new vaccines of particular importance for Africa, and testing them in clinical trials – for example vaccines against viruses such as Rift Valley Fever which causes outbreaks among humans and farm animals in East Africa, and against debilitating worm infections such as schistosomiasis
• Understanding how best to employ vaccines in Africa – for example how vaccines can be combined with other preventive measures against HIV, or what the most appropriate dosing schedules are for particular age groups and needs
• Investigating why some vaccines work differently in different communities, and working with communities to develop strategies that enable them to benefit from vaccines to the full
• Understanding how different communities learn about, understand and perceive vaccines, and what makes people confident to use them
• Building vaccine research expertise among African researchers
This work will contribute to ensuring that African communities secure the maximum possible benefit from vaccines.
Technical Summary
Vaccines are among our most successful public health interventions as shown during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but deficiencies in Africa’s vaccine research capacity have been recognised. Our vaccine research is strongly aligned to the Unit’s mission to undertake research and capacity building for control of infectious diseases. Our goal is to contribute to optimising vaccines for Africa and globally. The key objectives of our focus areas are:
1) Vaccines for viruses: to contribute to control and prevention of viral infectious diseases through vaccine development, trials and implementation research. Targets are to identify and prepare populations for future vaccine trials; determine safety, efficacy and effectiveness of vaccines or vaccines with other interventions, and of vaccine schedules, for disease prevention in Africa; investigate vaccine hesitancy and identify strategies to support vaccine uptake; and contribute to national and regional vaccine development strategies.
2) Immunomodulation and vaccines: to determine why some vaccine responses are impaired in rural, low-income, tropical settings, and what can be done to optimise them. Targets are to identify key, modifiable social and biological exposures, and mechanistic pathways, which influence vaccine responses and impact; and to model and test interventions to improve vaccine impact in vulnerable communities.
The techniques to be used include epidemiology and clinical trials, including the development of controlled human infection studies relevant to the endemic setting. Laboratory work will harness molecular methods and a range of immunological techniques addressing measures of immunogenicity and correlates of protective immunity, as well as research using high-dimensional flow cytometry to understand immunological pathways associated with vaccine responses and efficacy. Cross-cutting community engagement and social science research will include quantitative and qualitative approaches.
The balance between the focus areas is expected to be about equal.
1) Vaccines for viruses: to contribute to control and prevention of viral infectious diseases through vaccine development, trials and implementation research. Targets are to identify and prepare populations for future vaccine trials; determine safety, efficacy and effectiveness of vaccines or vaccines with other interventions, and of vaccine schedules, for disease prevention in Africa; investigate vaccine hesitancy and identify strategies to support vaccine uptake; and contribute to national and regional vaccine development strategies.
2) Immunomodulation and vaccines: to determine why some vaccine responses are impaired in rural, low-income, tropical settings, and what can be done to optimise them. Targets are to identify key, modifiable social and biological exposures, and mechanistic pathways, which influence vaccine responses and impact; and to model and test interventions to improve vaccine impact in vulnerable communities.
The techniques to be used include epidemiology and clinical trials, including the development of controlled human infection studies relevant to the endemic setting. Laboratory work will harness molecular methods and a range of immunological techniques addressing measures of immunogenicity and correlates of protective immunity, as well as research using high-dimensional flow cytometry to understand immunological pathways associated with vaccine responses and efficacy. Cross-cutting community engagement and social science research will include quantitative and qualitative approaches.
The balance between the focus areas is expected to be about equal.
People |
ORCID iD |
Publications
Abaasa A
(2023)
Establishing a single-sex controlled human Schistosoma mansoni infection model for Uganda: protocol for safety and dose-finding trial.
in Immunotherapy advances
Ahimbisibwe G
(2023)
Feasibility and acceptability of undertaking postmortem studies for tuberculosis medical research in a low income country.
in Frontiers in immunology
Balinandi S
(2023)
Molecular characterization of the 2022 Sudan virus disease outbreak in Uganda.
in Journal of virology
Butler-Laporte G
(2023)
Targeting hepatitis B vaccine escape using immunogenetics in Bangladeshi infants
Cavaleri M
(2024)
Fourth Controlled Human Infection Model (CHIM) meeting, CHIM regulatory issues, May 24, 2023.
in Biologicals : journal of the International Association of Biological Standardization
Colt S
(2023)
Relationships Between Schistosoma Mansoni Infection Intensity and Nutritional Status and Anemia Among Preschool-aged Children in Uganda
in Clinical Infectious Diseases
Dee DP
(2024)
A cross-sectional pilot household study of Schistosoma mansoni burden and associated morbidities in Lake Albert, Uganda.
in Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH
Egesa M
(2023)
Uganda Schistosomiasis Symposium 2023: understanding morbidity drivers and developing controlled human infection models for vaccine research.
in Trends in parasitology
Fasogbon IV
(2023)
UCP-LF and other assay methods for schistosome circulating anodic antigen between 1978 and 2022.
in Biology methods & protocols
Global Cardiovascular Risk Consortium
(2023)
Global Effect of Modifiable Risk Factors on Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality.
in The New England journal of medicine
Green DL
(2023)
The role of multidimensional poverty in antibiotic misuse: a mixed-methods study of self-medication and non-adherence in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
in The Lancet. Global health
Hookham L
(2024)
Seroepidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in a cohort of pregnant women and their infants in Uganda and Malawi.
in PloS one
Inzaule SC
(2023)
Recommendations on data sharing in HIV drug resistance research.
in PLoS medicine
Jenkin D
(2023)
Safety and immunogenicity of a ChAdOx1 vaccine against Rift Valley fever in UK adults: an open-label, non-randomised, first-in-human phase 1 clinical trial.
in The Lancet. Infectious diseases
Kalungi H
(2023)
Prevalence and Factors Associated with Illicit Drug and High-Risk Alcohol Use among Adolescents Living in Urban Slums of Kampala, Uganda.
in Research square
Kalungi H
(2023)
Prevalence and Factors Associated with Illicit Drug and High-Risk Alcohol Use among Adolescents Living in Urban Slums of Kampala, Uganda.
in medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences
Kansiime S
(2023)
Developing HIV risk prediction tools in four African settings.
in Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH
Kapulu M
(2024)
Fourth Controlled Human Infection Model (CHIM) meeting - CHIMs in endemic countries, May 22-23, 2023.
in Biologicals : journal of the International Association of Biological Standardization
Kasprowicz V
(2023)
How to improve research capacity strengthening efforts: learning from the monitoring and evaluation of four research consortia in Africa
in Health Research Policy and Systems
Kayiwa JT
(2023)
Integration of SARS-CoV-2 testing and genomic sequencing into influenza sentinel surveillance in Uganda, January to December 2022.
in Microbiology spectrum
Keenan K
(2023)
Unravelling patient pathways in the context of antibacterial resistance in East Africa.
in BMC infectious diseases
Kitonsa J
(2023)
A phase I COVID-19 vaccine trial among SARS-CoV-2 seronegative and seropositive individuals in Uganda utilizing a self-amplifying RNA vaccine platform: Screening and enrollment experiences
in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics
Koech A
(2023)
SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in pregnant women in Kilifi, Kenya from March 2020 to March 2022.
in Frontiers in public health
Lawal BJ
(2023)
Prevalence of immunoglobulin G and M to SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses in The Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, and Uganda: A longitudinal study.
in International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
Man-Lik Choi E
(2023)
Safety and immunogenicity of an Ad26.ZEBOV booster vaccine in Human Immunodeficiency Virus positive (HIV+) adults previously vaccinated with the Ad26.ZEBOV, MVA-BN-Filo vaccine regimen against Ebola: A single-arm, open-label Phase II clinical trial in Kenya and Uganda.
in Vaccine
Maust BS
(2023)
Bacterial microbiome and host inflammatory gene expression in foreskin tissue.
in Heliyon
Mugenyi L
(2023)
Effect of the "universal test and treat" policy on the characteristics of persons registering for HIV care and initiating antiretroviral therapy in Uganda.
in Frontiers in public health
Mugisha J
(2023)
Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in a rural Ugandan population.
in Vaccine: X
Muir R
(2023)
Schistosoma mansoni infection alters the host pre-vaccination environment resulting in blunted Hepatitis B vaccination immune responses.
in PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Muir R
(2023)
Schistosoma mansoni infection alters the host pre-vaccination environment resulting in blunted Hepatitis B vaccination immune responses.
in medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences
Namulondo J
(2023)
Transcriptome analysis of peripheral blood of Schistosoma mansoni infected children from the Albert Nile region in Uganda reveals genes implicated in fibrosis pathology.
in PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Nantambi H
(2023)
Pre-pandemic SARS-CoV-2-specific IFN-? and antibody responses were low in Ugandan samples and significantly reduced in HIV-positive specimens.
in Frontiers in immunology
Norcross C
(2023)
Long-acting antiretrovirals: research and implementation considerations in Africa.
in The lancet. HIV
Nyangiri O
(2023)
Variants of IL6, IL10, FCN2, RNASE3, IL12B and IL17B loci are associated with Schistosoma mansoni worm burden in the Albert Nile region of Uganda
in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Okello E
(2023)
Acceptability and applicability of biometric iris scanning for the identification and follow up of highly mobile research participants living in fishing communities along the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
in International journal of medical informatics
Related Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Award Value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MC_UU_00033/1 | 31/03/2023 | 30/03/2028 | £7,065,000 | ||
MC_UU_00033/2 | Transfer | MC_UU_00033/1 | 31/03/2023 | 30/03/2028 | £7,508,000 |
MC_UU_00033/3 | Transfer | MC_UU_00033/2 | 31/03/2023 | 30/03/2028 | £7,508,000 |