VALIDATE 5th Annual Meeting

 

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The 5th VALIDATE Annual Meeting was held on 7-8 March 2023 at the historic BMA House in London, UK. As always, our Annual Meeting gave our members talks from world-leading scientists in our research field, updates from our funded projects on their cutting-edge research, and the chance to meet members from across the globe.

2023 was the first in-person VALIDATE event since 2019, and it was a pleasure to meet members in person. The Annual Meeting is open to all VALIDATE members, with members from academia, industry, government bodies, and non-governmental agencies all welcome.

 

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BMA House Courtyard

The BMA's Memorial fountain built in honour of the medical men and women of the Commonwealth who gave their lives in the Second World War. The fountain is guarded by Greek style statues representing Sacrifice, Cure, Prevention and Aspiration. 

 

bma hosue great hall cabaret

The 5th VALIDATE Annual Meeting took place at BMA House, a stunning, Grade II listed building that is home to the British Medical Association and is an inspiring and interesting venue for our event. You can find out more about BMA House and take a virtual tour on the BMA House Website.

 

Travel Guide

To help members navigate the city during their stay in London, we created this helpful Travel Guide

 

 

AM 2023 post abstracts call

Along with keynote talks, research presentations by VALIDATE-funded projects, and time for networking, we held a Poster Session at the Annual Meeting that allowed VALIDATE members to publicise their research. You can find a full list of presenters, and their titles and abstracts, on the Annual Meeting 2023 Poster Page

 

VALIDATE ECR Workshop: Showcasing Your Science - 6 March 2023

1000 - 1700    Kat Arney & Sarah Hazell, First Create the Media                        

Following on from the very successful "Storytelling for Scientists" workshop, VALIDATE has once again asked First Create The Media to provide our members with an in-person, full-day interactive workshop that will help build skills and confidence to talk about your research to the audiences that matter.

Find out more about the workshop here.

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Day One - 7 March 2023 - In The Grand Hall - All delegates

0900 - 1000   Closed Network Management Board Meeting

0915 - 1000   Registration and tea/coffee

Helen McShane

1000 - 1010   Prof Helen McShane

VALIDATE Director, University of Oxford

A welcome and introduction from our Network Director

 

Samantha Vermaak

1010 - 1030   Mrs Samantha Vermaak

Co-Investigator & Executive Manager, University of Oxford

VALIDATE Update: an update on VALIDATE's activities to date and future plans

 

1030 - 1050   Dr Nastassja Kriel (VALIDATE Fellow)

Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Identifying persister Mycobacterium tuberculosis biosignatures

 

1050 - 1120   Break

 

1120 - 1140   Dr Ana Valencia Hernandez

James Cook University, Australia

Evaluation of BCGΔBCG1419c::ESAT6-PE25SS in immunocompetent and immunocompromised mouse models of TB

 

1140 - 1200   Dr Diane Lee

University of Surrey, UK

Alvacc: A human in vitro alveolus model to study aerogenic TB vaccine binding and translocation    

 

1200 - 1300      Lunch

 

1300 - 1400   Dr Trinh Thanh Trung,

Vietnam National University

Keynote Address: A step forward to establish a national research network for surveillance of melioidosis in Vietnam

 

1400 - 1420   Prof Jayne Hope

University of Edinburgh, UK

Investigating the BCG-induced Natural Killer (NK) cell response in cattle and humans

 

 

1420 - 1440  Dr Gabriele Pollara

University College London, UK

T cell receptor sequencing to identify correlates of protection in human tuberculosis vaccine studies

 

1440 - 1500   Prof Chiranjay Mukhopadhyay

Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India

Characterising the cellular immunity and metabolic response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Burkholderia pseudomallei in Indian patients for vaccine design

 

1500 - 1530      Break                   
 

1530 - 1550   Dr Munyaradzi Musvosvi

University of Cape Town, South Africa

Towards a T cell subset that can control Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

 

1550 - 1610   Assoc Prof Hao Li

China Agricultural University, China

Isolation of protective monoclonal antibodies recognising BCG and development of novel fusion protein vaccines against tuberculosis

 

Samantha Vermaak

1610 - 1700   Mrs Samantha Vermaak

VALIDATE Collaboration Clinic: As part of the Annual Meeting, VALIDATE will host a Collaboration Clinic, where delegates can be partnered with new potential collaborators – or use this time to hold in-person meetings with current collaborators also at the VALIDATE meeting.

 

1700 - 1830   Drinks Reception & Poster Presentations

 

 

 

1830 - 2100 The VALIDATE Team

Gala Dinner - In the Paget Room

 

 

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Day Two - 8 March 2023 - In The Grand Hall - All delegates

0900 - 0930 - Welcome & tea and coffee

 

0930 - 1030  Dr Caryn Fenner &  Prof Petro Terblanche

Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, South Africa

Keynote Address: mRNA Vaccine Innovation Platform: An Open Science Model Enabling LMICs to Build Capabilities for Pandemic Preparedness and Regional Vaccine Production

 

 

1030 - 1050   Dr Cristian Segura Cerda (VALIDATE Fellow)

VALIDATE Fellow, CIATEJ, Mexico

Evaluation of the efficacy of BCGΔBCG1419c vaccination plus a booster of EsxG/EsxH-derived peptides to prevent tuberculosis progression caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains prevalent in Latin America

 

1050 - 1120   Break     

 

1120 - 1140   Assoc Prof Rachel Tanner (VALIDATE Fellow)

VALIDATE Fellow, University of Oxford, UK

Characterising the BCG-induced antibody response to inform the design of improved vaccines against M.tuberculosis, M.leprae and M.bovis

 

1140 - 1200   Dr Laura Sibley

UK Health Security Agency, UK

Characterising the cytokines associated with trained innate immunity in BCG vaccinated non-human primates

 

1200 - 1300   Lunch

  

1300- 1320    Dr Simon Waddell

University of Sussex, UK

Innovative tools to measure mycobacterial antigen expression in tissue

 

1320 - 1340   Dr Andy Tran

St George’s, University of London

Testing a novel, self-adjuvanting mucosal vaccine candidate for TB in the mouse model of infection

 

1340 -  1400   Dr Godwin Kwayke-Nuako

University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Modelling the impact of a transmission blocking vaccine against leishmaniasis on sand fly vectorial capacity

 

 1400 - 1430   Break 

 

1430- 1450   Dr Paula Niewold

Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands

Towards a better TB vaccine: understanding improved local immune control by mucosal BCG vaccination

 

 

1450 - 1550 Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi PhD

National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine

Keynote Address: Academic Creativity, Strategic Alliances and Diplomacy to Catalyze the Vaccine Sciences in Tropical Medicine

 

1550 - 1610  Wrap up

1610  End of Meeting    

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VALIDATE awarded 29 travel grants for the 2023 Annual Meeting, covering the costs of attending in-person for LMIC members.