VALIDATE 5th Annual Meeting - Meeting Report
From the 6th to 8th March 2023, VALIDATE held it's first in-person events since 2019 at BMA House, Tavistock Square, London UK - A Workshop and our 5th Annual Meeting. In total, we welcomed around 100 members from over 30 countries to London who were joined by over 30 members online.
VALIDATE ECR Workshop - Showcasing Your Science
On March 6th VALIDATE hosted an in-person full-day interactive workshop, "Showcasing Your Science," aimed at equipping ECRs with the skills and confidence to communicate their research to a broad range of audiences. The workshop was led by Dr Sarah Hazel and Dr Kat Arney from First Create the Media, a communications consultancy specializing in life sciences and biology-technology convergence. The day was structured into four sessions, each comprising interactive activities that aimed to help members develop skills and build confidence in communicating their research.
Introduction - Building a Story: The opening session provided a quick refresh on constructing a compelling story and emphasized inclusivity in research communications. ECRs built a toolkit to support their communications, including a jargon-busting lexicon and a complex number cheat sheet.
Presentation Prep: This session covered how to prepare a memorable conference talk, including structuring content to hit the mark with the audience and using language to promote equality, diversity, and inclusivity. ECRs also prepared and delivered a 2-minute presentation on their research. In third session,
Making an Impression: Kat and Sarah provided tips and tricks for delivering top-notch presentations and building confidence. The session included practice in groups and feedback to hone the ECRs' stage presence.
The Grand Finale: For finale workshop session, ECRs delivered their presentations to a group of investors or at a flash conference as part of the "Presenting Den". Each table nominated a speaker to present to a particular target audience with each competing for a coveted prize, the final victor being Naomi Daniels of Otago University, New Zealand.
VALIDATE then hosted a well-earned evening meal at The Marquis Cornwallis Pub, a short 5-minute walk from the BMA.
VALIDATE 5th Annual Meeting 2023
The VALIDATE Annual Meeting was held on 7-8 March 2023 at BMA House. The meeting brought together around 100 researchers from around the world to share their latest vaccine research, present the results of their VALIDATE funded projects, and to get a chance to form collaborations.
Day One - 7 March 2023
The meeting started with a closed Network Management Board meeting from 9:00-10:00, whilst delegates registered and enjoyed a welcome tea, coffee and pastry in the Snow Room at BMA House.
Session 1 - Chaired by Prof Helen McShane
At 10:00am, Prof Helen McShane, VALIDATE Director from the University of Oxford, officially welcomed the attendees the the annual meeting followed by Samantha Vermaak, Co-Investigator & Executive Manager at VALIDATE who provided an update on VALIDATE's activities to date and our future plans.
Dr Nastassja Kriel from Stellenbosch University, South Africa delivered the first science based talk about her VALIDATE Fellowship project “Identifying persister Mycobacterium tuberculosis biosignatures”. We then heard from our first talks reporting on VALIDATE funded pump priming projects starting with Dr Ana Valencia Hernandez from James Cook University, Australia discussing “Evaluation of BCGΔBCG1419c::ESAT6-PE25SS in immunocompetent and immunocompromised mouse models of TB,” and Dr Diane Lee from the University of Surrey, UK on “Alvacc: A human in vitro alveolus model to study aerogenic TB vaccine binding and translocation.”
Session 2 - Chaired by Prof Mitali Chaterjee
After lunch, Dr Trung Trinh Thanh from Vietnam National University gave the first Keynote address on “A step forward to establish a national research network for surveillance of melioidosis in Vietnam.” This was followed by presentations from Prof Jayne Hope from the University of Edinburgh, UK on “Investigating the BCG-induced Natural Killer (NK) cell response in cattle and humans,” and Dr Gabriele Pollara from University College London, UK on “T cell receptor sequencing to identify correlates of protection in human tuberculosis vaccine studies.”Prof Chiranjay Mukhopadhyay from Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India discussed his team’s work on “Characterising the cellular immunity and metabolic response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Burkholderia pseudomallei in Indian patients for vaccine design”.
Session 3 - Chaired by Dr Maria Adelaida Gomez
After another break, Dr Munyaradzi Musvosvi from the University of Cape Town, South Africa discussed “Towards a T cell subset that can control Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection” and Associate Professor Hao Li from China Agricultural University rounded off the day’s science presentations with “Isolation of protective monoclonal antibodies recognising BCG and development of novel fusion protein vaccines against tuberculosis”.
The Collaboration Clinic
Sam Vermaak then returned to the stage to host the Collaboration Clinic, where delegates assigned to groups with the idea of building new collaborations.
SAM CAN YOU FLESH THIS OUT
Poster Session and Gala Dinner
After the activities in the Great Hall concluded, delegates were welcomed to the Snow Room at BMA house for the poster presentation session, where 27 members had printed and displayed some of their cutting edge research contributing to vaccines for TB, leishmaniasis, melioidosis and leprosy.
Delegates could then relax and enjoy some excellent food at the Annual Meeting Gala.
Day Two - 8 March 2023
Session 4 - Chaired by Prof Bernardo Villarreal-Ramos
After welcoming delegates back for Day Two with a tea or coffee, Dr Caryn Fenner and Prof Petro Terblanche from Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines in South Africa who gave their Keynote talk on “mRNA Vaccine Innovation Platform: An Open Science Model Enabling LMICs to Build Capabilities for Pandemic Preparedness and Regional Vaccine Production”. The keynote talk was followed by a presentation from Dr Cristian Segura Cerda, from CIATEJ, Mexico who talked about his VALIDATE Fellowship project “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”.
Session 5 - Chaired by Prof Andrea Cooper
After a break Associate Professor Rachel Tanner from the University of Oxford discussed her VALIDATE Fellowship research “Characterising the BCG-induced antibody response to inform the design of improved vaccines against M.tuberculosis, M.leprae and M.bovis,” and Dr Laura Sibley from the UK Health Security Agency, UK on “Characterising the cytokines associated with trained innate immunity in BCG vaccinated non-human primates.”
Session 6 - Chaired by Dr Nastassja Kriel
After lunch, pump priming presentations continued with Dr Simon Waddell who presented his project "Innovative tools to measure mycobacterial antigen expression in tissue," followed by Dr Andy Tran discussed "Testing a novel, self-adjuvanting mucosal vaccine candidate for TB in the mouse model of infection." Dr Godwin Kwayke-Nuako then discussed "Modelling the impact of a transmission blocking vaccine against leishmaniasis on sand fly vectorial capacity,"
Session 7 - Chaired by Prof Samantha Sampson
Dr Paula Niewold shared her research on "Towards a better TB vaccine: understanding improved local immune control by mucosal BCG vaccination." The final Keynote address was delivered by Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi, who spoke about "Academic Creativity, Strategic Alliances and Diplomacy to Catalyze the Vaccine Sciences in Tropical Medicine."
The Award for Best Talk and Best Poster
The VALIDATE NMB and SAB awarded the Best Poster Award to Jacent Nassuuna and Best Talk to Munyaradzi Musvosvi.
The Feedback and Annual Meeting 2024
The response from both the ECR Woorkshop and the 5th Annual Meeting was overwhelmingly positive. People were impressed by the diverse range of speakers and topics, enjoyed the collaboration workshop and were very impressed by BMA House as a venue. The VALIDATE Team is already working hard to ensure that Annual Meeting 2024 is even better!
