A new generation of vaccines
Professor Brendan Wren's research at LSHTM focuses on the molecular characterisation of bacterial virulence factors. In collaboration with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Professor Wren led the project to sequence the genome of the food poisoning agent Campylobacter jejuni that, for the first time, revealed a bacterial apparatus for modifying proteins by the addition of sugar molecules (an N-linked glycosylation system).
A vaccine for meningococcal serotype B
Professor Martin Hibberd at LSHTM has used a genomic approach to confirm that human complement factor H is the key controller of meningococcal disease susceptibility, protecting Neisseria meningitides from complement-mediated killing, and has developed the first licensed vaccine against meningococcal serogroup B.