E.Diane Williamson
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wilts. UK.
Biography:
Dr.Diane Williamson is a Dstl Fellow in Immunology, based at Porton Down. She has worked in R&D (starting in veterinary vaccinology and moving to human vaccines and therapies for serious pathogens) for 30 years. She has in excess of 160 original scientific papers, on the theme of prophylaxis and therapy of serious human diseases and she is a named inventor on 14 patents. She has particular expertise in immunological and allied research, the determination of immune correlates of protection and development of surrogate markers of efficacy, for application in subsequent clinical trials. Additionally she is currently a member of the national education, training and policy committee and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, Fellow of the Royal College of Pathology and former Trustee and national Education secretary of the British Society for Immunology.
Abstract:
This presentation will cover novel approaches to vaccination, which have been specifically designed to curtail disease outbreaks in resource poor settings. A dual route vaccination approach will be described, in which a priming dose will be administered by sub-cutaneous injection by a health professional, whilst a booster dose is incorporated in an enteric coated -capsule for oral self-administration. This approach to vaccination will be exemplified by data gained from an experimental model of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and will include considerations of vaccine antigen production and characterisation, the development of vaccine formulations, characterisation of the immune responses induced and identification of the immune correlates of protection. This approach is adaptable to other pathogens which have potential for epidemic spread and to exemplify the generic nature of this approach, the data gained with a bacterial pathogen will also be mentioned. The preclinical development of this approach to vaccination will be described with an indication of the route to clinical development and expected clinical presentation.