Rational design of anti-meningococcal polysaccharide conjugate vaccines.
Research archive
- University of Illinois, Chicago, USA
- Researchers:
Dr Carol Lichtensteiger, Dr Willie Vann, Professor Eric Vimr
- Project Number: 0205.0
- Category: Prevention
- Duration: 2003 - 2007
- Start Date: 01 January 2003
- Type: Lay summary
- View scientific version
Polysaccharide-conjugate vaccine technology has led to the development of very successful vaccines against meningitis, septicaemia and other serious disease caused by Hib and Group C meningococcus. It is also the basis for the new pneumococcal vaccine, offered to young children at particular risk of infection in the UK and Ireland, and routinely given to babies in the US where it is successfully reducing cases of severe pneumococcal disease.
From 4 September 2006, this pneumococcal vaccination will become part of the routine childhood immunisation programme in the UK, and will be offered to children at 2, 4 and 13 months of age.
The pioneering work which gave us the key to conjugate vaccine technology began in 1968, and although that groundbreaking research is still fundamental to the vaccines we use today, the processes used in their manufacture continue to improve to keep up with the latest scientific advances.
In this project, scientists aim to comprehensively characterise successful conjugate vaccines to consistently generate the best possible immune response modern vaccines can deliver. They will then explore the use of this approach in the development of Group B meningcoccal vaccines.