Priority Theme: Therapeutics
Discipline: Immunology
The immune system protects people throughout their life from infection and disease. Like people, the immune system grows and evolves as it encounters new and familiar infectious organisms but also ages, becoming less efficient and effective. Older immune systems respond less effectively to vaccines, producing fewer protective antibodies and offering less protection from disease. This is one reason older people need more frequent vaccination. Why this happens is only just starting to be understood.
‘Germinal centres’ are unique immunological structures that form in response to an infectious disease. RNA technology, the ability to package cellular instructions – such as a vaccine or therapeutic agent – in microscopic bubbles and deliver them to cells like a courier service, is revolutionising biomedicine. It may also be the key to boosting ailing germinal centres by targeting the immune cells inside them. By assisting waning immune cells through targeted RNA technology, it may be possible to sustain germinal centre efficiency – offering the same protection of a younger, stronger immune system.
Dr Theresa Pankhurst is an immunologist who is interested in the fundamental biology behind effective vaccine-mediated immunity and how the immune system can be harnessed to improve vaccine efficacy for future infectious disease threats.
Dr Pankhurst will investigate the germinal centre response to mRNA vaccinations – developed by the Malaghan Institute – and how this changes with age – using expertise and resources established by the Babraham Institute in the United Kingdom. As part of her one-year targeted Kia Niwha Leader Fellowship project she will also investigate whether encoding mRNA vaccines with specific ingredients might improve the age-related decline of the germinal centre, with the goal to identify new vaccines that better protect older members of our communities from infectious disease.