VALIDATE for Schools: Careers in Vaccine Science
A Public Talk from the VALIDATE Network
Took place 9 December 2020
More than 200 students from schools across the UK joined Professor Helen McShane and Dr Rachel Tanner on Microsoft Teams for the first VALIDATE for Schools event.
Helen and Rachel discussed their careers in science and vaccine research, covering tuberculosis (TB), animal testing and sweaty T-shirts. They also answered students’ questions on subjects ranging from scientists’ salaries to CRISPR.
Participating schools included Chipping Campden School, Harris Academy Greenwich, Hautlieu School, Maria Fidelis Catholic School, Moreton Hall School, Ormiston Rivers Academy, Pontypridd High School, Hawthorn High School, Blessed Hugh Faringdon, Copthall School and Wheatley Park School.
About the speakers
Prof Helen McShane is the VALIDATE Network Director; Director of the Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre; Professor of Vaccinology at Oxford University; Deputy Head (Translation and Personnel), Medical Sciences Division; and an Honorary Consultant Physician in infectious diseases. Since 2001, Helen has led a TB vaccine research group at the University of Oxford's Jenner Institute. She collaborates with several research groups across Africa in TB vaccine clinical trials.
Dr Rachel Tanner, a VALIDATE Fellow and member of the Network Management Board, discussed her research into antibody responses to TB vaccination and ways to reduce the use of animals in TB vaccine testing, alongside her work supporting the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trials.