
Are you a postgraduate student interested in the latest advances in vaccine science?
Have questions regarding innovations, strategies and incentives in vaccinology?
Join us for a cutting-edge online seminar diving into the latest breakthroughs in vaccine development and implementation. Leading experts from Imperial College London and The University of Ghana will share insights into novel vaccine platforms, emerging technologies, vaccine economics and promising clinical advances followed by an interactive Q&A session!
About the speakers:
Professor Marisa Miraldo – Business School, Imperial College London
Prof. Miraldo’s research interests are in three key areas:
i) understanding the complexity of the (economic, psychological, environmental, social) drivers of health risky behaviour (e.g. vaccination, food choices) and the development of interventions to mitigate them;
ii) incentives for healthcare innovation development and diffusion in health systems;
iii) the evaluation of the impact of policies on institutional strategies and performance.
Prof. Miraldo currently leads a multidisciplinary team of 11 researchers working on several across-faculty projects. These projects are transdisciplinary in nature, make use of modelling and quantitative methodologies, large datasets and some involve the design, implementation and evaluation of randomised interventions and policy design.
Professor John Tregoning – Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London Prof. Tregoning researches the immune response to vaccines, in order to prevent respiratory infections and has extensive experience of working with biotech companies to perform pre-clinical assessment of vaccines to Respiratory syncytial virus and influenza. Prof. Tregoning is the author of the upcoming book Live Forever? The Curious Scientist’s Guide to Wellness, Disease and Ageing (due out January 2025). He previously published Infectious: Pathogens and how we fight them (OneWorld) which describes the history and science of infectious disease.
Professor Kwadwo Asamoah Kusi – The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), University of Ghana
Prof. Kusi’s research focuses on humoral and cellular immunology of parasitic and viral infections as well as the immunology of co-infections and clinical trials. His current projects involve the novel malaria multi-epitope vaccine design, clinical and immunopathological consequences of chronic HBV and Plasmodium falciparum co-infections. Prof. Kusi is a lead immunologist on a number of ongoing clinical trials including the Lassa fever LSV-002 vaccine trial.
Dr Abdouramane Camara – West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana
Dr Camara’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying the generation of long-lived plasma cells, antibody-secreting cells and their potential to be early predictors of vaccination success. He is particularly interested in malaria, a disease endemic to many African countries, and the efficacy of newly introduced malaria vaccines. Beyond malaria, Dr Camara is also investigating vaccines that provide long-term or lifelong immunity, aiming to contribute to improved vaccine design and implementation strategies.
Where: Online, via Microsoft Teams (link received upon registration)
When: Monday, 27th January | 13:00-15:00 GMT