Two competitive projects will fund the immunological study of the malaria vaccine

CRESIB, the research centre of ISGlobal, has recently been granted two competitive projects from the world's two most important and competitive public funding organisations in the field of biomedical research—the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the United States of America, and the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Union. Both approved projects will study the immunological mechanism of RTS,S—the first malaria vaccine candidate.

The two projects coordinated by CRESIB researcher Carlota Dobaño will be conducted in collaboration with other international research centers of reference, like the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Switzerland), the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen (Germany), the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of California Irvine (United States), the Manhiça Health Research Centre (Mozambique), and other seven African research institutions that are currently participating in the Phase 3 trial of RTS,S, among others.  

Understanding the immunological protection mediated by the malaria vaccine

The funds granted by the NIH from the United States Federal Government consist on a Research Project Grant (RO1),  one of the most prestigious worldwide. The five-year project (2012 – 2017) has a budget of $ 2,996,225, and its main aim is to understand the immunological mechanisms underlying the protection mediated by RTS,S. This knowledge will allow to develop a second generation of more efficacious and long lasting vaccines.

Identifying biological markers of protection

The project selected by the FP7—the main mechanism to support R & D in the European Union—will last two years (2013–2015) and will receive 2,803,651 €. Using a systems biology approach, this project seeks to identify biomarkers of protection against malariathat will be used to evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine, and will enable to save time and costs during clinical trials.