Weekly round-up #191

Launching today: BCG Adventures
VALIDATE team, with some amazing help from members, has been developing BCG Adventures - a series of educational video games all about vaccines. The project officially launches today and we ask that our members play the games and share them as widely as possible. These games would not have been possible without the expertise of our amazing members and support from the University of Oxford Enriching Engagement scheme, funded by the Wellcome Trust.
About the games
Travel back to 1917 and explore a war-torn city to help invent a life-saving vaccine. Avoid killer traffic, deadly rivers and dangerous dogs to deliver BCG to the communities that need it. Enter a microscopic world and defend the human body from mycobacterial invaders. These games are an open-access resource to help VALIDATE members, researchers, parents and teachers engage young people with the science of vaccines.
Two games will be released on Wednesday and you can take a sneak-peak now! Please do not share these pages until after the official launch…
- Albert and Camille’s Little Lille Adventure is an exploration and adventure game in which you help Albert Calmette and Camille Gu鲩n explore occupied Lille in 1917 and gather the supplies they need to create the BCG vaccine (whilst avoiding unfriendly soldiers).
- In Vaccine Delivery Adventure you play as a healthcare worker trying to overcome the challenges of delivering the BCG vaccine in increasingly more difficult environments – can you deliver the vaccines in time?
And coming soon:
- Welcome to your Immune System (coming soon) is an arcade-style game where you defend human cells from an invading of bacteria.
We need your help getting the word out about this exciting project! With that in mind, we have created a Promotion Pack with everything you need to engage teachers, colleagues, friends and any young people/future scientists who might enjoy the game. The pack includes trailers, gifs, screenshots and some wording for social media posts and emails. .
Our members could help spread the word in the following ways:
- Let colleagues at your institution know about the games…
- post about each of the games on your social media…
- inform any teachers you know or might work with…
- and encourage any young people in your life to play the games and let their friends know.
- Faculty Position in Infectious Disease Phylodynamics/Genomic Epidemiology - The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch) invites applicants for an open full-time faculty position at the assistant or associate level in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division - deadline 21 November 2021
- MRC Biomed Catalyst - Supporting the pre-clinical development and early clinical testing of novel therapeutics, devices and diagnostics, including “re-purposing” of existing therapies - deadline 21 November 2021
- UK-US research: ecology and evolution of infectious diseases - The funders wish to encourage high quality, innovative research on the ecological, evolutionary, and social drivers that influence the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases - deadline 24 November 2021
- Research Mentorship in Low and Middle-Income Countries - An Open Call - Do you have practical ideas for enhancing research mentorship in low and middle-income countries (LMICs)- deadline 15 December 2021
You can find a list of all relevant external funding we've spotted for our members on our external funding page.
Training Opportunities and Events:
- Nature Research: How to plan your career as a scientist, Online Seminar, 4 November 2021
- BCG Symposium, Institut Pasteur de Lille, France, 17 November 2021
- Cattle TB Vaccine Project Leader, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Weybridge UK, deadline 14 November 2021
There are many more relevant career opportunities on our jobs page.
- Rv0180c contributes to Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell shape and to infectivity in mice and macrophages, Payros D et al, in Plos Pathogens
-
Construction and immunogenicity of a T cell epitope-based subunit vaccine candidate against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Xueting FanX et al,in Vaccines
-
Engineered porous/hollow Burkholderia pseudomallei loading tumor lysate as a vaccine, Huang FY et al, in Biomaterials
Highlights on Twitter this week:
We shared an article on the impact of COVID on TB vaccine research and a call to action in the UK’s Guardian in light of the rising TB death toll. WriteThatPhD had a sample qualitative review chapter and advice for preparing and publishing a PhD manuscript. Nature Careers had some advice for writing a Pop Science book, shared a critique of academia’s treatment of disabled researchers, and promoted the value of unofficial academic mentorship. Immunologist Dr Mireia Guerau shared a cartoon demonstrating the expectations vs reality of a PhD, StopTBCanada highlighted the need for more data on TB in Canada and we shared an important study in the Lancet showing the reversal of progress in fighting TB.
Stay up to date with all the relevant news and opportunities by following @NetworkVALIDATE on Twitter.
Published: 3 November 2021