Clinical and pre-clinical perspectives of vaccine development
Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen
This is a specialised course. This means that 80% of the seats are reserved to PhD students enrolled at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at UCPH and 20% og the seats are reserved to PhD students from other Danish Universities/faculties (except CBS).
The course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD Students from NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee.
Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. This also applies to PhD students from NorDoc member faculties. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.
Learning objectives
A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:
1. Account for the types of vaccines from both a historical and a functional perspective
2. Comprehensively evaluate pre-clinical aspects of vaccine development, including structure-guided vaccine development, importance of stability and delivery as well as pre-clinical testing (e.g. animal models)
3. Comprehensively evaluate clinical aspects of vaccine development, including clinical trial design and outcomes
4. Understand the status of vaccine challenges for several pathogens that impact human health
5. Understand the global health perspectives of vaccines, including vaccine inequity in developing countries and the impact of vaccine hesitancy
Content
• General introduction to vaccinology, including species specific considerations.
• The historical perspective of vaccine development (from smallpox to COVID-19) as well as different kinds of vaccines (live-attenuated, inactivated, subunit etc.)
• Selection of vaccine antigens and the use of structural information to improve vaccine antigens.
• The role and selection of appropriate adjuvants to boost desirable vaccine responses.
• The role of vaccine formulation to optimize stability and deliverability.
• Preclinical vaccine testing (e.g. animal models).
• How to set up clinical trials to address questions of safety and efficacy.
• Regulatory requirements for vaccine development and approval, including post-marketing surveillance.
• Vaccination of risk groups.
• Important aspects of vaccine hesitancy.
• The impact of vaccine inequity on global health.
• Translational aspects of basic vaccine research.
• Specific successes and challenges of vaccines against several human and non-human pathogens such as: COVID-19, TB, E. coli, HIV, HBV, HCV, Chlamydia, Malaria, and Flaviviruses.
Participants
Participants can be from a basic scientific or a clinical background and should have an interest in understanding and conducting vaccine research.
Relevance to graduate programmes
The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH:
- All graduate programmes
Language
English
Form
Lectures, discussion and poster presentations.
Course directors
Jannick Prentø, Associate Professor, ISIM
Jprentoe@sund.ku.dk
Lea Barfod, Associate Professor, ISIM
lbarfod@sund.ku.dk
Zitta Barrella Harboe, Clinical Professor ved IKM (Department of Clinical Medicine), Copenhagen University Hospital, North Zealand
zitta.barrella.harboe@regionh.dk
Anders Miki Bojesen, Professor ved Institut for Veterinær- og Husdyrvidenskab
miki@sund.ku.dk
Teachers
TBA when list is complete
Dates
24/9 (9-12.30)
1/10 (9-12.30)
20-21/10 (1.5 day meeting at Marienlyst)
30/10 (9-17)
Course location
Room 15.2.15 (Panum, building 15) and 1.5 day meetings at Hotel Marienlyst
Expected frequency
Every other year.
Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules.
Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment.
Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor