Sophie Valkenburg, research assistant professor at HKU-Pasteur, and team members Maireid Bull and Athena Li, attended the last symposium organized by the International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases (Isirv) in Siena, Italy.
The focus of this event that brought together key opinion leaders and decision makers in influenza research/policy was Immunological Assays and Correlates of Protection for Next Generation Influenza Vaccines:
"As next generation influenza vaccine technologies are developed and undergo clinical evaluation, new immunological assays and immune correlates of protection will be needed to estimate the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of these vaccines. This conference aims to bring together scientists from academia, industry, and government public health, standardisation and regulatory agencies that develop and evaluate seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines with the following objectives:
- to identify the most relevant immunological assays needed for evaluation of next-generation influenza vaccines
- to discuss the path forward for development, harmonization and standardization of new assays
- to develop strategies to investigate the immune correlates of protection for next-generation vaccines"
HKU-Pasteur had the opportunity to shine in Siena thanks to Sophie Valkenburg, who was awarded for her short talk entitled "Reduced antibody function correlates with influenza infection in a household model of transmission" and Maireid Bull and Athena Li presented their posters.
