Malaria Vaccine Bid Attracts Gates Foundation Support

Main Category: Tropical Diseases
Also Included In: Immune System / Vaccines;  Genetics;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 22 Oct 2009 - 0:00 PST

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Walter and Eliza Hall Institute research into the development of a 'whole organism' vaccine against malaria has received a US$100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The grant will support a global health research project titled 'Development of a genetically attenuated live malaria vaccine', that will be undertaken by Dr Krystal Evans, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr Louis Schofield's laboratory in the institute's Infection and Immunity Division.

Dr Evans' project is one of 76 grants announced today by the Gates Foundation in the third funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, a five-year $100 million initiative that provides financial support to scientists worldwide as they explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries.

Each year more than 400 million people contract malaria, and more than one million people, mostly children, die from the disease.

Dr Evans, in collaboration with Dr Schofield and Professor Alan Cowman, will use the funding to develop a live, genetically-modified, vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the form of malaria mostly deadly to humans.

"Malaria presents an enormous health burden but also has a major impact on social and economic development in countries where the disease is endemic," Dr Evans said. "New therapies are urgently needed. The parasite is becoming increasingly resistant to available drugs and although the past 10 years have seen more than 40 clinical trials of malaria subunit vaccines, they have consistently failed to provide strong and lasting immunity."

Rather than developing a 'subunit' vaccine that uses only part of the parasite, Dr Evans plans to develop a live vaccine that will use the whole parasite. "This approach to vaccine development - using a weakened form of the whole organism that causes a particular disease - has proven successful in eradicating smallpox and controlling diseases such as flu and polio," she said.

"We believe our laboratory's recent advances in the genetic modification of parasites, together with its advances in stem cell technology and delivery, give us a good chance of success."

Dr Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation's Global Health Program said the winners of the grants showed the bold thinking needed to tackle some of the world's greatest health challenges. "I'm excited about their ideas and look forward to seeing some of these exploratory projects turn into life-saving breakthroughs."

This is the third Grand Challenges Explorations grant awarded to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute since the program began. Prior grants were awarded to Dr Irene Caminschi and Dr Louis Schofield for other anti-malaria vaccine approaches. Promising research projects are eligible for further support of up to US$1 million.

Source:
Penny Fannin
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute