NHMRC backs team of scientists to optimise vaccines for respiratory viruses

Associate Professor Natalie Trevaskis and Associate Professor Joanna Groom.

2 October 2024

A team of scientists from across Australia have together been awarded a $5M National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Synergy grant to design vaccines for influenza and COVID that are longer lasting.

The team is being led by WEHI and Monash University in collaboration with The University of Melbourne and University of New South Wales (UNSW), and is supported by leading experts from Moderna and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.

Vaccines have revolutionised modern medicine and saved many lives, yet the need for new vaccines that induce broad and durable immunity against emerging and highly mutagenic respiratory viral infections still remains.

With this grant from the Federal Government, the multi-disciplinary team of researchers will work together to establish the first unified model focused on long-lived vaccine response.

Associate Professor Natalie Trevaskis from the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), who is one of the chief investigators on the project, said the team has created a vaccine development pipeline with the required complementary expertise to achieve their goals.

“Respiratory viral infections such as influenza and COVID remain a major public health concern due to their ability to cause annual epidemics and instigate global pandemics,” Associate Professor Trevaskis said.

“Together our team will establish the mechanistic “rules” to produce the first unified model of long-lived vaccine response and, essentially, change the landscape of vaccine design, assessment and regulatory approval to expedite the translation of next-generation vaccines with universal efficacy, breadth and longevity.”

Chief investigator Associate Professor Joanna Groom from WEHI said the team’s multi-disciplinary approach will assess how different vaccine designs alter the breadth of vaccine responses that lead to long-lived protection.

“This will fast-track vaccine clinical trials and provide insight into why particular vaccine platforms pass or fail development hurdles,” said Associate Professor Groom.

Chief investigators also include Associate Professor Deborah Cromer from University of New South Wales Chief, Professor Colin Pouton from Monash University (MIPS) and Dr Adam Wheatley from the University of Melbourne.

NHMRC Synergy Grants support outstanding multidisciplinary teams of investigators to work together to answer major questions that cannot be answered by a single investigator. To learn more visit: https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-mark-butler-mp/media/50-million-for-innovative-research-into-mental-health-melanoma-and-more?language=en

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