Weekly round-up #160

Welcome to an enormous VALIDATE Weekly Round #160. We have loads going on with World TB Day and us officially launching our BCG100 Programme.

BCG100 - Launching Today

Today is World TB Day and the day we officially launch BCG100 - VALIDATE's programme marking 100 years since the first use of the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine for humans. The programme will run for the rest of 2021 and there are plenty of ways in which VALIDATE members can get involved, so please do join in!

#BCG100 Facts

This morning on Twitter, we kicked off BCG100 by posting the first of what will be 100 infographics which include facts about TB or BCG. You can see the memes by following the #BCG100Facts hashtag on Twitter and checking out the BCG100 Facts page. You can even get a sneak peek of the future memes and contribute some facts of your own on the BCG100 Channel of the VALIDATE Hub. We hope our members will retweet and share the memes via your social media.

BCG100 Public Lectures

BCG Then and Now - There is still time to register for tonight's BCG Then and Now event. Prof Paul Fine & Prof Helen McShane will take us on a journey from the initial development of the vaccine to the modern-day challenges in the fight against TB and the future challenges researchers face in replacing the enduring BCG vaccine.

Spread the word and register online - www.validate-network.org//bcg100-lecture.

TB and the use of BCG in Animals: Does it matter to people? - We are also excited to announce our next BCG100 Lecture - TB and BCG for Animals. In this talk, Prof Michele Miller and Prof Glyn Hewinson will discuss why effective vaccine programmes for animals are essential to the health and wellbeing of humans, and the challenges that we face in making such programmes a reality. This talk will take place online, at18:00 GMT on 9 June 2021.

Please help us spread the word and register online - www.validate-network.org//bcg100-animals

ECR Workshops 2021- Watch the Videos Now on the VALIDATE Hub

Last week VALIDATE, held it's latest in a series of workshops for Early Career Researchers. We have posted the videos from the last two workshops on the Workshops Channel on the VALIDATE Hub:

Grant Writing with Helen McShane and Sam Vermaak - 24 February 2021: In this workshop, Helen McShane and Sam Vermaak discussed research grant writing and their experience of applying for grants and reviewing applications. Over 30 members attended from 15 countries.
Research Project & Grant Management for Researchers with Sam Vermaak - 17 March 2021: Sam talked through her tips to plan and run a successful research project and to manage your research grants. Over 25 embers attended from 17 countries.

Funding:

MRC Biomedical Catalyst: Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme - Supporting the pre-clinical development and early clinical testing of novel therapeutics, devices and diagnostics, including “re-purposing” of existing therapies - deadline 21 July 2021
MRC Biomed Catalyst - The scheme supports academically led projects whose goals are to improve prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment of significant health needs, or that focus on developing research tools that increase the efficiency of developing interventions.
- deadline 24 July 2021
BactiVac Catalyst Training Awards (open call) - Funding is available to support training opportunities and exchanges, prioritising those involving LMIC members and academic/industrial partners, for the transfer of knowledge and skills in bacterial vaccinology - deadline 31 August 2021
MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowships - Supports clinicians to undertake a PhD or other higher research degree - deadline 1 September 2021

You can find all other funding opportunities on our external funding page.

Training Opportunities and Events:

IVV 3rd Annual Conference: Vaccines for Ruminants, Online Worksh, 26 April 2021
Advanced TB Diagnostics Course, Online , 7 - 11 June 2021

More opportunities can be found on our Training and Events pages.

Job Opportunities:

GVGH Head of Clinical Development & Regulatory Affairs, Siena Italy, no stated deadline

There are many more relevant career opportunities on our jobs page.

Publications:

HLA-DRB1 alleles associated with lower leishmaniasis susceptibility share common amino acid polymorphisms and epitope binding repertoires, de Vrij N et al including VALIDATE Member Wim Adriaensen, in Vaccines
A novel Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific subunit vaccine provides synergistic immunity upon co-administration with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, Woodworth J et al, in bioRxiv

Check out our Publications Page for members' publications and email VALIDATE@ndm.ox.ac.uk if you have a paper you would like us to include.

Highlights on Twitter this week:

TB News Daily lamented the lack of a new vaccine for TB, VALIDATE member Amanda Gibson was excited to take part in the BSI’s “Harnessing T cell Immunity” event, and Write that PhD shared a template for an argument map. BactiVax published a blog post on how some vaccines protect us against more than their target pathogen, NIHR at the University of Oxford shared details of our upcoming BCG Then and Now event, and Write that PhD shared a guide to planning your PhD chapters. The the BBC shared a Somali film that aims to dispel myths about vaccines and WHO updated guidelines on systematic TB screening, while the Stop TB Partnership shared a USAID meme about World TB Day. This morning #WorldTBDay2021 was celebrated by Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, The UN Goals Sustainable Development, OIE Animal Health and the BSI launched their Vaccine Engagement Day.

Following @NetworkVALIDATE on Twitter is the best way to keep up to date. You can also take part in BCG100 by using the hashtag #BG100.

Published: 24 March 2021