It's been World Immunization Week from 24-30 April, and we've been doing our part to raise awareness about vaccines and vaccine research.

Firstly, we published a blog post "#VaccinesWork - World Immunization Week, Vaccines and VALIDATE" about the importance of vaccines, the 3 million lives they save every year, and how we still desperately need to develop vaccines for VALIDATE's target bugs - those causing TB, leishmaniasis, melioidosis, and leprosy. Take a read, and share the post if you like it!

Secondly, we're joining voices around the world to call on Country Leaders to attend the United Nations' General Assembly (UNGA) High Level Meeting on tuberculosis this Sept. The UNGA meeting follows on from a successful Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in Moscow in November 2017, which resulted in high-level commitments from 120 country leaders to accelerate progress to end TB. We need the UNGA to be taken seriously, and to lead to crucial outputs in the fight to end TB, and we're asking all VALIDATE members to push the Leader of their Country to prioritise TB and to attend the meeting in person to signal this prioritisation to other World Leaders. We've given you lots of info and template documents to enable you to take action quickly and easily here; so please take the time to petition your Head of State - and, of course, let us know how you get on.

News this week:

Funding:

• AESA African Postdoctoral Training Initiative - postdoctoral training fellowship program for African researchers - 11 May 2018
• Newton Fund Researcher Links Travel Grants - travel awards for early career researchers from UK, Peru, Philippines & South Africa to undertake an international research placement - 8 Jun 2018
• MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship Pre-Doctoral (CRTF) - supports clinicians to undertake a PhD or other higher research degree - 6 Sep 2018 / 10 Jan 2019 / 3 Apr 2019
• MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship Post-Doctoral (CRTF) - supports clinicians who achieved their PhD some time ago but who have not been research active since due to clinical training commitments to reacquire research skills - 6 Sep 2018 / 10 Jan 2019 / 3 Apr 2019
• MRC Senior Clinical Fellowship (SCF) - supports clinicians to transition to research leadership - 3 Apr 2019

If you apply to any MRC grant call do mention that you are a member of VALIDATE in your application.

Training:

• Vaccinology Course - 5-day joint LUMC & University of Oxford Summer School - The Netherlands, 3-7 Sep 2018

Events:

• East African Research in Progress - for early career researchers to present their unpublished research in progress to peers & senior experts in all fields of tropical medicine & global health - Tanzania, 27-29 Sep 2018

Job opportunities:

• Principal Scientist (TB), Public Health England - 8 May 2018

Papers of interest:

• "Differential Effect of Viable Versus Necrotic Neutrophils on Mycobacterium tuberculosis Growth and Cytokine Induction in Whole Blood"
• "LepVax, a defined subunit vaccine that provides effective pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis of M. leprae infection"
• NatureComms "Vaccines work" editorial, taking stock of current advances and barriers in vaccine development and distribution
• "Matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors enhance the efficacy of frontline drugs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis"

On Twitter we've tweeted/retweeted about: the new Centre for TB Research at the Karolinska Institutet; the role of text messaging in encouraging vaccine uptake; the 2018 EDCTP Forum abstract submission date closes on 4th May; what would happen in a world without vaccines?; lots of infographics and videos for World Immunization Week 2018; and how the Global TB Caucus are calling on all Heads of State to attend the High-Level Meeting on tuberculosis. Follow us @NetworkVALIDATE to keep up to date on all the news in our research field.

Published: 2 May 2018