Image

Weekly round-up #78

We are excited to announce that all the Keynote speakers for our VALIDATE-BSI conference " Vaccine Development for Neglected Intracellular Pathogens" in October are now confirmed:

• Prof Clare Lloyd (Imperial College London) and Prof Tracy Hussell (University of Manchester) will be speaking in the "Tissue-specific immunity, host-pathogen interactions, macrophages and the microenvironment" session.

• Dr January Weiner (Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology) and Prof Stephen Gordon (University College Dublin) will be speaking in the "Biomarkers (including omics and big data)" session.

• Prof Paul Brett (University of Nevada) and Prof Mark Hatherill (University of Cape Town) will be speaking in the final session, "Latest vaccine developments".

A big thank you to our Keynote speakers for agreeing to give these talks, which we're greatly looking forward to.

For further details about the meeting (and to register), visit the Events webpage. Abstract submissions do close in just two weeks' time on the 17th July, so get yours submitted to us asap!

A reminder that there is also just two weeks left for LMIC members to apply for a Travel Scholarship to cover your costs of attending the VALIDATE Annual Meeting and VALIDATE-BSI Conference (plus the ECR workshop if relevant to you). The travel scholarship call closes on 17th of July, 9am UK time. For further details, visit our Annual Meeting webpage.

Publications:

• Differences in monocyte: lymphocyte ratio and Tuberculosis disease progression in genetically distinct populations of macaques in Scientific Reports by VALIDATE members Laura Sibley, Andrew White, Helen Fletcher, Sally Sharpe and collaborators
• Sensitivity and specificity of an electronic nose in diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis among patients with suspected tuberculosis in PLOS One

Our publications page highlights papers of interest by our members and in the fields of our focus pathogens.

Highlights on Twitter this week: An article in The Conversation 'Infecting healthy people in vaccine research can be ethical and necessary'; BSI launched a website for the 2019 congress including a full programme, key dates, registration and more; our sister GCRF network, IVVN (International Vet Vaccinology Network), released their June newsletter including details on their 2020 conference; a free forum to debate current issues and share knowledge following the success of the first UK Clinical Vaccine Network conference; read how the UK government is being urged to 'seize the opportunity' and give £1.4bn to help beat aids, malaria and TB to help end HIV, TB and malaria; and how the UK government has pledged £500 million per year (also see "Global Fund Praises UK for Increasing Pledge by 16 Percent"); read Nature comments discussing the challenges of getting training in biological and environmental sciences for students in Africa; promising news as World Bank and Government of India signed a loan agreement of $400m to help expand the coverage and quality of TB control interventions; and take a look at VALIDATE member Amanda Gibson's stand on TB at the Royal Society's summer science exhibition. Follow @NetworkVALIDATE to keep up to date.

Published: 3 July 2019