Fourth round of IVVN pump-priming funding awarded

27 Apr 2020

As part of our catalyst funding work, the IVVN awards pump-priming grants of up to £100,000. These grants are awarded to members for projects that aim to address a key bottleneck preventing the development of a vaccine.

The fourth call for applications to the scheme was announced July 2019, and applications closed in October.

Following review of the applications by our panels, we are delighted to announce the three projects that have been awarded this round of grants.

The projects will involve 12 researchers working across five countries and will focus on vaccines for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, bovine babesiosis and avian influenza.

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Projects funded in round four

Discovery of T cell epitopes of the intracellular parasite Babesia bovis using immunoproteomic and immunoinformatic strategies

The tick-borne pathogen Babesia bovis causes acute disease in tropical and subtropical bovines. Current control methods include live vaccines which, although effective, have undesirable characteristics. This project aims to identify key proteins involved in the bovine immune response to Babesia, which will lead to novel candidates for a new generation of babesiosis vaccines.

Immunogenicity study of matrix 2 ectodomain proteins displayed on nodavirus-like particles as a universal avian influenza virus vaccine for chickens

Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus is highly contagious among birds and causes serious outbreaks. Commercially available vaccines are strain-specific and require reconstitution to accommodate new strains. Our research team has shown a promising protective efficacy of nodavirus-like particles, which may confer universal protection against avian influenza viruses in chickens.

Congratulations to all the awardees!

You can read about all 13 projects that have been awarded our pump-priming grants here.

About the International Veterinary Vaccinology Network

The International Veterinary Vaccinology Network (IVVN) is a community of veterinary vaccine specialists from around the world. We promote international collaboration on projects that address bottlenecks in the development of vaccines against animal diseases that impact societies in low- and middle-income countries. Our activities include providing a forum for researchers, awarding funding for collaborative projects, and training African researchers to run workshops in schools. We are funded by the UK government through the Global Challenges Research Fund.