Manchester Researchers to Develop Zika Vaccine

Scientists at the University of Manchester have been awarded £177,713 to develop a vaccine against the Zika virus as part of an initiative to counter the disease which has spread rapidly across the Americas in the last few months.

Dr Tom Blanchard, Honorary Senior Lecturer at The University of Manchester and Fellow of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Consultant in Infectious Diseases at North Manchester General Hospital and the Royal Liverpool Hospital, will lead the project to create and test a vaccine based on a safe derivative of a pre-existing smallpox vaccine – the only disease to have been successfully globally eradicated. The team, including Manchester University’s Professor Pam Vallely and Dr Eddie McKenzie will work in collaboration with Professors Miles Carrol and Roger Hewson from Public Health England.

Funding for the project was awarded by The Medical Research Council, The Wellcome Trust and the Newton Fund’s launch of a £4m rapid response funding initiative announced at the beginning of February in response to the recent and severe outbreak.

Dr Blanchard said: “As we have seen in the case of Ebola there is now a real need to react quickly to fast spreading tropical diseases.  Zika can cause serious illness, but it often has no visible symptoms, so a vaccine for those at risk is one of the most effective ways we have of combatting it.”

With results targeting the Zika virus expected within18 months, the vaccine candidate may also prove useful against other infectious diseases simultaneously. “We know that there’s an urgent need for this vaccine but we’ll be working carefully to deliver a product which is safe and effective and which can be quickly deployed to those who need it. If we can also use this vaccine on multiple targets then this will represent an exciting step forward in dealing with these kinds of outbreaks,” Dr Blanchard added.