Vaccines and Therapeutics

The Centre retains a strong focus on vaccines and therapeutics across multiple disease areas, which span the whole development pipeline from discovery science, clinical trials, through to impact monitoring and programme optimisation.

At the discovery stage, there is a strong focus on the early life intestinal microbiome and its relationship with vaccine-induced immunity for poliovirus, rotavirus, enterovirus and typhoid. At the intermediate stage, we inform the development of new prevention tools, including new vaccines and therapeutics against sexually transmitted infections, HIV, TB, dengue, malaria and schistosomiasis by informing the design, conduct, and interpretation of pivotal clinical trials, and defining the desired product characteristics needed to meet priority public health goals to support investment in product development. Centre staff are also actively involved in understanding desired product characteristics and use cases for vaccines against epidemic and pandemic threats.

We continue to undertake a substantial portfolio of research on the public health impact and evaluation of therapeutics and vaccines post-licensure, including vaccination against HBV, HPV, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, malaria, polio and COVID-19. We support the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and GAVI in generating public health impact and cost-effectiveness across several vaccines.

The Centre also conducts extensive research into interventions which aim to improve population health, including mass drug administration programmes, combination of biological, behavioural and structural prevention interventions, and health education initiatives to promote behaviour modification and infectious disease vector control and elimination techniques.