Epitope-driven immunogen design and testing of malaria vaccines

Malaria is a major infectious disease that imposes a significant disease burden in sub-Saharan African countries and Southeast Asia. This project harnesses a collaborative approach, combining immunological, clinical and industrial expertise in a public-private partnership, with the collective aim of designing and testing efficacious malaria vaccine.

Low- and middle-income tropical countries face substantial challenges due to malaria, with an estimated 608,000 deaths and 249 million infections reported in 2023 worldwide, predominantly affecting young children and pregnant women. While currently existing vaccines represent a significant milestone in the arena of anti-parasite human vaccines, further advancements are essential to develop a more effective and long-lasting vaccine that can protect vulnerable populations over a longer term.

Through detailed studies of the immune responses to the malaria parasite, we have gained valuable insights into the requirements for inducing a protective immune response. Armed with this knowledge and our strong expertise in distinct fields, we are poised to innovatively design vaccines and generate robust pre-clinical data for testing the vaccine candidates.

The knowledge and information derived from our research will help pave the way for next-generation vaccine designs and future implementations in the field. By engaging with the industrial collaboration from the outset, we ensure that the translatory potential of our product remains an important focus, as we design and develop the necessary data for future studies.