Human and Veterinary Vaccinology

Overview

The Human and Veterinary Vaccinology course is a five-day course which covers all aspects of vaccinology.

The course includes contributions from world-leading experts. In the past these have included:

  • Prof David Salisbury (Director of Immunisation, UK Department of Health)
  • Dr Vasee Moorthy (Department of Immunisation, Vaccines & Biologicals, WHO - World Health Organisation)
  • Prof Sir Andrew Pollard (Director, Oxford Vaccine Group, University of Oxford)
  • Dr Laura Martin (Development Project Leader, Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health)
  • Prof Sir Adrian Hill (Director, Jenner Institute, University of Oxford)
  • Prof Paul Fine (Professor of Communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
  • Prof Bryan Charleston (Director, Pirbright Institute)
  • Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert (Jenner Institute, University of Oxford)

The Programme provides state-of-the-art teaching in both human and veterinary vaccinology, drawing on the experience of Oxford University, the world-renowned The Jenner Institute based in Oxford, The Pirbright Institute (formerly the Institute for Animal Health - IAH) and our partners in industry.

Vaccinology is a cross-disciplinary subject and the most exciting developments in vaccinology have occurred when people from diverse research, business and medical backgrounds have used their skills to collectively tackle problems in vaccine design, manufacture and distribution.

Our course participants will therefore reflect the diversity of the subject and be from business, academic, clinical and veterinary backgrounds. The course will be of particular interest to research scientists, programme managers, clinical trial coordinators, nurses, physicians and veterinarians. The course will be accessible to people already working in the field or to those who wish to enter the field.

The Oxford Vaccinology Programme consists of two courses which are taught by experts from the University of Oxford, academia and industry.

The course is designed as a stand-alone module or can be taken as an add-on to the Clinical Vaccine Development and Biomanufacturing module. Book together to receive a 10% discount (a saving of over £300.00).

Programme details

Please note that we reserve the right to make updates to the below programme as we get closer to the start date of the course. 

Registration on day one will be held between 08:30-09:00.

Day 1 - Monday 28 October (Teaching: 09:00 - 19:00)

  • Welcome, Introductions and Course Overview
  • Prelude to human and veterinary vaccinology: scientific, manufacturing and regulatory synergies
  • Introduction to vaccine design & structural vaccinology
  • Introduction to pre-clinical immunology
  • Antigen screening & selection processes
  • Immune defence mechanisms in humans & immunomonitoring in clinical trials
  • Vaccine adjuvants: definitions and historical perspectives
  • Malaria vaccines

Day 2 - Tuesday 29 October (Teaching: 10:30 - 17:30)

  • Guided walking tour of Oxford (morning) depart 09:00
  • Preclinical efficacy testing of vaccines
  • Nanoparticles and VLPs in vaccine development
  • Immune defence mechanisms in animals
  • RNA vaccines 

  • Protein expression vaccine technologies  

Day 3  - Wednesday 30 October (Teaching: 10:15 - 17:30)

Hosted at The Pirbright Institute, Surrey (depart Oxford 08:00)

  • An overview of veterinary vaccines and rational development of foot-and-mouth disease virus vaccines

  • New vaccine platforms for Nipah virus and Natural infections of livestock and animals as models for human diseases

  • Centre for Veterinary Vaccine Innovation and Manufacturing (CVIM)
  • Developing a vaccine against African Swine Fever

  • Developing novel multivalent vaccines for poultry viral diseases

Afternoon - Tour of The Pirbright Campus including Centre for Veterinary Vaccine Innovation & Manufacturing (returning to Oxford ~ 19:15)

Day 4  - Thursday 31 October - (Teaching 09:00 - 18:40)

  • The clinical vaccine development process
  • Challenge Models in Vaccine Development
  • HIV Vaccines
  • Therapeutic cancer vaccines
  • Vaccines against Hepatitis C
  • Therapeutic vaccines based on virus like particles: from peanut allergy to Alzheimer disease
  • Global progress in TB Vaccine development

Day 5 - Friday 1 November - (Teaching 09:00 - 14:00)

  • Novel vaccine delivery technologies
  • The vaccine manufacturing process
  • One Health Vaccinology
  • Vaccines in biodefence

Attending the in-person course 

Further details will be emailed to you two weeks ahead of your course, which will include registration information. 

Please get in touch if you have not received this information within five working days of the course start date.  

In the meantime, you may wish to plan your travel: Travel information 

Online course information:

The online version of the course will be broadcast live on Microsoft Teams. You will have audio and video access to all the live sessions as they are taught in the classroom.

You will be able to ask questions via the ‘Chat’ feature on Teams and we will also provide two-way video/audio so you can see the tutors teaching and ask questions directly (you will need to use a connected device with a microphone for this such as a laptop or smartphone).

If you are taking the course online, you will not be able to participate in:

1.   The walking tour

2.   Tour of The Pirbright Institute

You will need to attend all the live sessions to qualify for a course certificate. Recordings of the live sessions may not be available.

In order to successfully attend this course online, your connected device should meet the following IT requirements - https://onlinesupport.conted.ox.ac.uk/system-requirements/

Accessing the online course

Details about accessing the private MS Teams course site will be emailed to you during the week prior to the course commencing.  

Please get in touch if you have not received this information within three working days of the course start date

Digital Certification

To complete the course, you will be required to attend and participate in all of the sessions on the course in order to be considered for a certificate. Participants who complete the course will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course.

The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will also be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so.

Fees

Description Costs
Standard course fee (online) £1595.00

Payment

Fees include course materials, tuition, transfer to/from Oxford and The Pirbright Institute, refreshments and lunches. The price does not include accommodation.

All courses are VAT exempt.

Register immediately online 

Click the “book now” button on this webpage. Payment by credit or debit card is required.

Discounts

On this course we offer the following discounts:

  • 20% to staff & students at the University of Oxford
  • 10% to staff & students at other higher education institutions

To apply at the discounted rate, please contact us for details.

Tutors

Prof Adrian Hill

Course Director

Director, The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford

Dr César López-Camacho

Course Tutor

Senior Researcher, Jenner Institute

Prof Tomáš Hanke

Course Tutor

Professor of Immunology, University of Oxford & Distinguished Immunology Professor, Kumamoto University, Japan

Prof Jayne Hope

Course Tutor

Senior Research Fellow, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh

Prof Sandy Douglas

Course Tutor

Group Head / PI, University of Oxford

Dr Ahmed Salman

Course Tutor

Senior Immunologist-Vaccinologist

Dr Aadil El Turabi

Course Tutor

Senior Postdoctoral Researcher (vaccinologist), The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford

Prof Dan Peer

Course Tutor

Director, Laboratory of Precision NanoMedicine, Tel Aviv University

Prof Florian Krammer

Course Tutor

Professor of Vaccinology, Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr Mike Whelan

Course Tutor

Vaccine Developer

Prof Bryan Charleston

Course Tutor

Director, The Pirbright Institute & Investigator, Jenner Institute, University of Oxford

Dr Rebecca McLean

Course Tutor

Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, The Pirbright Institute

Dr Julian Seago

Course Tutor

Group Leader, Pirbright Institute

Dr Chris Netherton

Course Tutor

Principal Investigator, African Swine Fever Vaccinology, The Pirbright Institute

Prof Munir Iqbal

Course Tutor

Group Leader, The Pirbright Institute

Prof Helen McShane

Course Tutor

Professor of Vaccinology, Wellcome Senior Fellow, PI, Head of TB vaccines group, The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford

Mr Gerardo Montalvo Zurbia Flores

Course Tutor

Dr Martin Bachmann

Course Tutor

Professor of Immunology, The Jenner Instiute, University of Oxford

Prof Rachel Tanner

Course Tutor

Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Jenner Institute, University of Oxford

Prof Anita Milicic

Course Tutor

Jenner Investigator, Vaccine Formulation and Adjuvants, The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford

Prof George Warimwe

Course Tutor

Group Head / PI, University of Oxford

Dr Simon Funnell

Course Tutor

Prof Simon Graham

Speaker

Group Leader, Immunology/Vaccinology, The Pirbright Institute

Simon received his PhD from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where he developed a cattle model for testing vaccines against onchocerciasis. After post-doctoral positions working on vaccine development for Theilerioses at the Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Edinburgh, and the International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya, Simon joined the Virology Department of the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Weybridge as a research fellow in immunology.

In 2014, he took up the joint position of Group Leader (PRRS Immunology) at The Pirbright Institute and Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Immunology, within the new School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Surrey. Simon’s research is focused on improving our understanding of the interactions of the PRRS virus with the porcine immune system and the development of improved vaccines.

Course aims

This training course will provide students with:

  • An overview of the field of human and veterinary vaccinology, from Edward Jenner to modern day vaccines.
  • An understanding of the immune system and immune mechanisms needed to provide protection from disease.
  • An understanding of the recent advances that have been made in the vaccine field and appreciation of the impact of molecular immunology and pathogen genomics on vaccine development.
  • An overview of the molecular methods used for the design and construction of vaccines.
  • An appreciation of the importance of pre-clinical testing and the many factors involved in the selection of animal models.
  • The ability to understand and interpret the bioassays used to measure vaccine immunogenicity and to understand how immunogenicity correlates with protection.
  • An understanding of the role of veterinary vaccines in animal heath, animal welfare, environmental protection and public health.
  • An understanding of the vaccine development pathway - from bench to market.
  • An overview of the ethical issues surrounding vaccine development and deployment.

Application

If you would like to discuss your application or any part of the application process before applying, please click Contact Us at the top of this page.

Level and demands

Vaccinology is a cross-disciplinary subject and the most exciting developments in vaccinology have occurred when people from diverse research, business and medical backgrounds have used their skills to collectively tackle problems in vaccine design, manufacture and distribution.

Our course participants will therefore reflect the diversity of the subject and be from business, academic, clinical and veterinary backgrounds. The course will be of particular interest to research scientists, programme managers, clinical trial coordinators, nurses, physicians and veterinarians. The course will be accessible to people already working in the field or to those who wish to enter the field.

People from the following organisations and companies have attended the Oxford Vaccinology Programme:

Baxter BioScience, Baxter Innovations GmbH, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health GmbH, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine (University of Oxford), Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility (University of Oxford), Commission on Human Medicines, Cumbria and Lancashire Health Protection Unit, Datamonitor, Department of Paediatrics (University of Oxford), Division of Public Health and Primary Health Care (Oxford), Drug Delivery Solutions, European Medicines Agency (EMEA), Emergent BioSolutions Inc, Federal Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries, Genecom, Glide Pharma, ICON Clinical Research, IDT Biologika GmbH, Imaxio, Inocul8, Institute for Animal Health (IAH), Irsicaixa, Laboritorios Leti, S.L., London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Medicago R&D, MHRA, Moredun Research Institute, Novartis, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (University of Oxford), Oxford Vaccine Group, PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), Pfizer Ltd, Sagittarius IP, Solvay Biologicals, Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc, Statens Serum Institut, Subiaco Associates Ltd, The Jenner Institute (University of Oxford), Tropical Medicine (University of Oxford), Vaccibody AS, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, World Health Organisation, Wyeth

If you're uncertain whether this course is suitable for your requirements, please contact us with any questions you may have.

Accommodation

Although not included in the course fee, accommodation may be available at our on-site Rewley House Residential Centre. All bedrooms are en suite and decorated to a high standard, and come with tea- and coffee-making facilities, free Wi-Fi access and Freeview TV. Guests can take advantage of the excellent dining facilities and common room bar, where they may relax and network with others on the programme.

To check prices, availability and to book rooms please visit the Rewley House Residential Centre website. 

Enrolled students are entitled to discounted accommodation rates for the purpose of study, at Rewley House, and can contact the administration team for the promotional code to use for making online accommodation bookings via the website.

IT requirements

For those attending the course remotely, the course will be streamed using Microsoft Teams. You will be required to follow and implement the instructions we send you to fully access Microsoft Teams on the University of Oxford's secure IT network.

To participate you must be familiar with using a computer for purposes such as sending email and searching the Internet. You will also need regular access to the Internet and a computer meeting our recommended minimum computer specification.

It is advised to use headphones with working speakers and microphone.