Weekly round-up #248

VALIDATE Seminar: A Double Bill with Institut Pasteur de Tunis
For our first VALIDATE Event of 2023, we have an exciting double bill: Two talks, covering two pathogens, from two VALIDATE members at the Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunisia.
First Prof Makram Essafi will be talking about his work Targeting FOXO3 transcription factor as a Host-Directed approach to enhance the efficacy of BCG against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and then Prof Dhafer Laouini will them talk about the Institut Pasteur de Tunis.
The seminar will take place via Zoom on 25 January 2023 at 14:00 GMT. Register online - www.validate-network.org/event/tunis-seminar
A VALIDATE Review of the Year
2022 was another productive year for VALIDATE. Here are some of the highlights:
- In January, we congratulate our latest VALIDATE Fellows Dr Nastassja Kriel and Dr Cristian Segura-Cerda.
- In February, we marked the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with inspiring VALID8 interviews with Thao-Thy Pham, Wal Dutra, Chynthia Diaz and Sam Sampson.
- During March, we held our first “A Vaccine for…” seminars with A Vaccine for Melioidosis (which you can watch on YouTube).
- Throughout April, May and June we held our “A Vaccine for…” seminars with A Vaccine for Leishmaniasis?, A Vaccine for Melioidosis?, and A Vaccine for Leprosy.
- In June and July, we hosted our ECR Summer Showcase seminars.
- In August, we officially opened registration for our 5th Annual Meeting.
- In September, we awarded our Poster Presentations and Travel Grants for our Annual Meeting
- In October, we welcomed Adesola Adewumi to the VALIDATE team as the new Junior Project Manager.
- In November, we held the VALIDATE Workshop - NIH101: A Guide to Applying for National Institutes of Health Funding.
- December we hosted our last event of 2022 with Targeting Immunometabolism in Host Defense Against Mycobacterium Tuberculosis with Dr Luciana Balboa
In total, we hosted 12 online events, awarded 2 new Fellowships, funded 8 new Pump Priming projects, 5 new Training grants, and 32 Travel Grants so that LMIC members can attend the 5th Annual Meeting in 2023.

Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year from the VALIDATE Team
The VALIDATE Team would like to wish a you a very warm festive season and/or a Happy new year to our amazing community of members across the world. We will be back in the new year for an even busier and productive 2023 and really look forward to meeting many of you at the VALIDATE Annual Meeting.
- Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) – Funding to accelerate business innovation by supporting knowledge exchange with academic institutions - deadline 25 January 2023
- MRC New Unit Funding Opportunity - Apply for MRC new unit funding to tackle complex and interdisciplinary health challenges - deadline 23 February 2024
- EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training - Funding to produce the next generation of internationally recognised doctoral researchers to address key interdisciplinary science needs - Deadline 7 March 2023
- UKRI Policy Fellowships - Funding to collaborate on research activity to address pressing national and global challenges. - Deadline TBA (April 2023)
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:
- International Conference on Clinical Immunology and Immunotoxicology 2023, New York, UK, 28 - 29 January 2023
- International Conference on Clinical Immunology and Immunotoxicology 2023, London, UK. 16 - 17 March 2023
Find more event opportunities on our Training and Events pages.
- Research Assistant - Immunology, NDM Experimental Medicine , University if Oxford, UK, Deadline 13 January 2023
Other relevant career opportunities are on our jobs page.
- Mucosal exposure to non-tuberculous mycobacteria elicits B cell-mediated immunity against pulmonary tuberculosis, Dutt TS er al, in Cell Reports
- Preprint: Multivariate Analysis Establishes Airway T Cells as a Correlate of IV BCG-Mediated Protection Against Tuberculosis in Rhesus Macaques, Patricia A. Darrah PA et al, in Cell Host & Microbe
- Immune cell interactions in tuberculosis, Flynn JL & Chan J, in CELL
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:
A WHO commissioned study provided strong arguments in favour investing in TB Vaccines, Locals in Papua New Guinea are benefiting from BCG vaccine fridges, and the US CDC celebrated Robert Koch’s 19th Birthday. The Microbiology Journal will be fully open-access in 2023, and the India Times reported on the limited efficacy of BCG. Nature Career had advice for participating in a peer mentorship group, warned of the dangers of EDI tokenism, and released a report on supporting neurodivergent researchers. Keep up to date with all the relevant news and opportunities by following @NetworkVALIDATE on Twitter.
Published: 21 December 2022