Oxford University has built vaccine research from a strong scientific base in vaccine-related experimental immunology, pathogen biology & genetics, and is driving the largest output in vaccine research publications of any UK academic institution. By investing in dedicated vaccine research facilities and vaccine researchers, Oxford has become home to the largest not-for-profit research endeavour in immunisation in Europe. Some 400 researchers are employed by the University to work directly on vaccines, with many others working in related fields, brought together in the Jenner Institute (www.jenner.ac.uk).
Oxford University will support a collection of clinical samples from the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) as part of the DIAMONDS Consortium, and also work with partners in Nepal working on a collection of samples from patients with infection presenting to secondary care, with a focus on pneumonia.
The Oxford Vaccine Group (www.ovg.ox.ac.uk) is the largest clinical trials unit in the UK focussed on research involving children (over 120,000 children currently in clinical trials of vaccines). Led by Professor Pollard, OVG has received research income of over £50M for development and evaluation of vaccines and immunisation programmes in the past 5 years. The OVG has almost 30 years’ experience of clinical studies and laboratory evaluation of immune responses in children (for example quadrivalent meningococcal vaccines, group B meningococcal vaccines, RSV vaccines) and led the UK testing of vaccines in children in response to pandemic H1N1 influenza in 2009 with almost 1000 children enrolled (500 in the first week of the trial), providing important data for UK Government and WHO to inform policy.
Dr Stéphane Paulus, consultant in infectious diseases and local DIAMONDS principal investigator, and his team at Oxford Children’s Hospital, will follow on from their contribution to EUCLIDS and PERFORM studies by recruiting paediatric patients with presumed infectious diseases or inflammatory conditions (WP1).
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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 848196