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Professor Jonathan Heeney, head of the Lab of Viral Zoonotics, Department of Veterinary Medicine has been awarded a $2 million Grand Challenge for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Flu Lab.

Professor Jonathan Heeney, head of the Lab of Viral Zoonotics, Department of Veterinary Medicine has been awarded a $2 million Grand Challenge for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Flu Lab.

The funding, jointly awarded to spinout company DIOSynVax Ltd, is to develop an innovative universal influenza vaccine.

An influenza virus pandemic remains one of the greatest global threats, having previously having caused more than 50 million deaths a century ago in the largest outbreak in recorded history. Seasonal influenza viruses continue to pose a significant threat to humankind, causing an estimated 290,000–650,000 deaths each year. Current influenza vaccine production technologies are outdated and seasonal vaccines have reduced efficacy. A Universal Flu vaccine would be a game changer for Global Health by reducing one of the world’s major infectious diseases threats and annual killers.

The Cambridge based team led by Professor Heeney has recently developed a new Vaccine accelerator technology called DIOSynVax – Digital Immune Optimized and selected Synthetic Vaccines – to produce a trivalent haemorrhagic fever vaccine to prevent Ebola, Marburg and Lassa viruses. This technology is currently being scaled up for human clinical trials.

Cambridge biotech spinout, DIOSynVax Ltd, will coordinate a Universal Flu vaccine pipeline and a multidisciplinary consortium including partners based at the University of Kent, Imperial College, Public Health England, and the University of Regensburg in Germany.

The Grand Challenge for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development was launched in April 2018 to identify new, transformative concepts that could lead to the development of a universal flu vaccine. To receive funding, Grand Challenges winners had to compete against a large international field and after a rigorous international selection process.  The bold new DIOSynVax approach for developing a universal flu vaccine has the potential to change the way future vaccines are made.

Date awarded

29 August 2019

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Jonathan Heeney and project manager Rebecca Kinsley