IT鈥橲 a fact too easily overlooked: vaccines are huge life-savers. , according to the World Health Organization. That鈥檚 pretty impressive, and there is much more to come. Advances in biotechnology are giving vaccine research a shot in the arm, increasing the opportunities to develop new vaccines 鈥 and careers.
As Edward Jenner discovered more than 200 years ago, exposing people to a harmless pathogen can offer them protection against a dangerous, related one. Back then, Jenner injected people with cowpox to protect them against the much more harmful smallpox. In the intervening centuries, we became adept at making vaccines from dangerous microbes that we had first made harmless.
鈥淚t was a very simple approach. You attenuated or killed the pathogen, and that was your vaccine,鈥 says at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. 鈥淲hen that worked as a vaccine it was great, but when it didn鈥檛, it was hard to know where to go next.鈥
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Today, we do have somewhere else to go. Biotechnology is opening up new avenues for vaccine development 鈥 what calls, 鈥渢he new vaccine frontier鈥. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really in an environment where we can look forward to a complete modernisation of the whole vaccinology process,鈥 says Gerberding, who leads the vaccine division at pharmaceutical company .
聯We can look forward to a complete modernisation of the whole vaccinology process聰
One approach that has emerged over recent decades is to create proteins in the lab that mimic those found in pathogens. These proteins 鈥 or antigens 鈥 are often found on the surface of microorganisms and can be used to prime a person鈥檚 immune system to destroy the invaders.
Ackerman, who trained as a protein engineer, is trying to make proteins that trigger fierce immune reactions by taking the antigens already expressed by pathogens and tweaking them. 鈥淯sing protein engineering tools, we can look at a million or a billion variants of an antigen and pull out variants that we think would make a better vaccine,鈥 says Ackerman.
Knowing the genes of pathogens and the proteins they express has really helped in these endeavours. 鈥淲e finally have the toolkit 鈥 computationally and genomically 鈥 to do this much more effectively and rationally,鈥 says Ackerman. The people who will be best placed to make use of that toolkit are those with training in bioinformatics and computing, as well as genetics, she says. 鈥淭hose are all skills that are in demand.鈥
Ackerman鈥檚 team is one of many working on a vaccine for HIV, a virus that and for which, as yet, no effective vaccine exists (see 鈥World鈥檚 most wanted vaccines鈥). Malaria, another big killer, is one of the targets under investigation at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The pharmaceutical company is part of an international collaboration that has developed a potential vaccine for the disease.
is recruiting team members at its research and development centre in Brussels, Belgium. 鈥淎t the moment there is hiring going on at all levels 鈥 from people who are just leaving university, up to the new leaders and vice-presidents in the organisation,鈥 says Ingrid Kraaijbeek, talent acquisition leader at GSK Vaccines. The company tends to see a lot of applications from people who have worked as pharmacists and doctors. 鈥淧eople say: 鈥業鈥檝e been on the treating side and I want to move into the preventing side鈥,鈥 says Kraaijbeek.
Other groups are attempting to create vaccines solely from strands of DNA that code for a target pathogen鈥檚 antigens. Human cells take up these strands and produce the foreign antigens themselves. The antigens provoke a protective immune response against the pathogen. 鈥淲e are seeing a lot of progress in this area,鈥 says , an immunologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and president of the .
Gregory Poland, founder of the in Rochester, Minnesota, hopes the use of genomic technologies will lead to the development of personalised vaccines. 鈥淲e can figure out what genetic variations an individual has that might pose an obstacle to protective immunity, and then reverse-engineer a vaccine candidate around that obstacle,鈥 he says. Poland reckons doctors will be able to use the technology to predict whether a person is likely to respond to a vaccine, or if they are at risk of side effects.
Many vaccinologists these days, including Poland, are also developing vaccines for pathogens that do not pose an immediate threat. 鈥淚 work with the US Department of Defense to help devise countermeasures to bioterror,鈥 says Poland, who is working to improve vaccines for smallpox and anthrax.
Biodefence research has received huge funding in recent years. Last year alone, the US Department of Health and Human Services allocated $400 million to for producing vaccines against potential bioweapons. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a large amount of money in the US, the UK and other European countries鈥 for such research, says Poland. 鈥淲e only have two licensed vaccines against bioterrorism agents 鈥 anthrax and smallpox 鈥 and that鈥檚 it. There鈥檚 a lot of work to do.鈥 In the UK, much of this work is done by the UK government鈥檚 (DSTL) at Porton Down in Wiltshire.
At DSTL, microbiologist Petra Oyston leads a team developing vaccines against the bacteria that cause plague and . 鈥淲e work on things that appear on 鈥 things that cause unpleasant diseases, and that have historically featured in nations鈥 offensive programmes,鈥 she says.
鈥淰accines have an advantage over antibiotics in containing an outbreak,鈥 says Oyston. 鈥淚f you can vaccinate around an outbreak you can contain it.鈥 Some of these diseases are untreatable, making vaccines vital. 鈥淏y the time people show symptoms with pneumonic plague, for example, it鈥檚 almost impossible to rescue them with antibiotics,鈥 says Oyston.
DSTL looks to employ immunologists, vaccinologists, statisticians and clinically qualified people. 鈥淭he scientific civil service is almost a halfway house between industry and academia,鈥 says Oyston. 鈥淵ou get to do some really interesting, really innovative work, and at the same time you鈥檝e always got to be thinking about the application, and what you can give to your customer.鈥
Whether the work is done at government institutions, universities or drug companies, the biotechnology boost to vaccine research is creating new opportunities to do vital work. And as Poland puts it: 鈥淚 can think of no other area of scientific endeavour that has had as profound an effect on human health.鈥
聯No other area of scientific endeavour has had as profound an effect on human health聰
Case Study: Humanitarian work
You might remember some of your childhood immunisations 鈥 perhaps a nurse came to your school or your parents took you to the local clinic. In many developing countries, delivering vaccines to people is often a much bigger challenge.
鈥淭he current vaccines that we have were developed for industrialised countries, where certain infrastructure and logistical challenges are not a problem,鈥 says Kate Elder, vaccines policy advisor at humanitarian organisation (MSF). In order to stay potent, for example, many vaccines need to be kept refrigerated in what鈥檚 called a 鈥渃old chain鈥. 鈥淚n Chad, for example, where there is intermittent electricity and poor infrastructure, it鈥檚 very difficult,鈥 says Elder.
Elder works within MSF鈥檚 to overcome such hurdles. 鈥淚 work to gather the experience of my colleagues in the field, who are vaccinating, and I take that feedback and use it to advocate for better products,鈥 she says. MSF vaccinates as many as 10 million people a year.
鈥淲e know that vaccine manufacturers have a lot of thermostability data, so we鈥檙e pushing them to make that data available,鈥 says Elder. Then she works with vaccine manufacturers, the World Health Organization, and other stakeholders to try to improve such traits in the next generation of vaccines.
Elder鈥檚 role also includes responding rapidly to global crises. 鈥淩ight now in South Sudan there鈥檚 a large crisis and there are refugee populations in a number of camps,鈥 says Elder. 鈥淓arlier this year, MSF conducted a large oral cholera vaccination campaign to prevent an epidemic that could potentially strike that already very vulnerable population.鈥
After earning a degree in international relations, Elder moved to Botswana to research HIV, and worked at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, France, before pursuing a second degree in international health. She then worked at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva, Switzerland, before taking on her role at MSF. 鈥淧ublic health is one of the most dynamic, fascinating and rewarding professions, and humanitarian organisations are some of the best places to put your learning to practical use.鈥
Case Study: Medical chemist-turned-patent attorney
With a chemistry degree under her belt, started a career as a medical chemist at healthcare company . But she soon discovered that lab work was not for her, and so decided to apply her scientific training to patent law.
Patents offer legal protection to new inventions, deterring others from copying them without permission. These can include new drug formulations and novel methods of drug delivery, for example. Patent attorneys write up and file patents, protect existing ones and sometimes mount legal challenges against those that stand in the way of a client鈥檚 research.
鈥淭he day-to-day is fantastic because you get to talk to scientists, and that鈥檚 my favourite part of the job,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he nice thing about patents is that it鈥檚 always the cutting-edge stuff.鈥 For example, Hambleton worked with pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline on a malaria vaccine that鈥檚 undergoing clinical trials. 鈥淚t鈥檚 fantastic, it鈥檚 really exciting,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard, it鈥檚 complicated and we work long hours, but you feel like you make a difference and you really help people.鈥
Thinking like a lawyer can be challenging for scientists, at least at first, says Hambleton. 鈥淚n science, the answer is often right or wrong, black or white, whereas in law there鈥檚 a lot more grey 鈥 a lot of argumentation and reasoning.鈥
The decision to move into law should not be taken lightly, as legal training is a long process. On top of her chemistry degree and a Master鈥檚 in , Hambleton had to complete a three-year legal course before she could practise law.
She insists it is worth it. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very hard profession to get into, but there鈥檚 always, always demand for good people,鈥 says Hambleton, who has now started her own company. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a hard job, but it鈥檚 rewarding. I wouldn鈥檛 change anything.鈥
Case Study: Getting the word out
As the tag line of the movie Contagion puts it: nothing spreads like fear. That is why there is a need to keep the public well informed about vaccines.
During her five years as the head of global communication for immunisation at the , Heidi Larson鈥檚 main role was crisis management. 鈥淲e would go into countries and try to put out fires of misinformation,鈥 she says.
Iran was one country that asked for UNICEF鈥檚 assistance. Its health ministry was launching a measles vaccination campaign and wanted to avoid a repetition of events it had experienced with a tetanus vaccination years earlier. Then, a group of treated girls had developed . Although only 10 girls were affected, and their physical test results were all normal, the impact on local public opinion was huge.
鈥淚t was a panic syndrome聽鈥 nobody was hurt,鈥 says Larson. 鈥淭he important thing is that, when there is a problem, it gets managed and contained to prevent the viral spread of panic.鈥
The UNICEF team鈥檚 advice was to educate and engage with the public about the vaccine. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about trying to get as much advance understanding to the public about what, why, when and where,鈥 says Larson, 鈥渁nd having full transparency about the benefits and risks.鈥
Larson, who initially trained as an anthropologist, now heads the at the . The group has developed a system to track global press and social media to identify and map any changes in sentiment towards vaccines. 鈥淲e can try to anticipate problems in their emergent stage before they become more serious,鈥 she says.
The team is trying to avoid a repeat of situations like the northern Nigeria boycott of the polio vaccine, which was based on a fictitious rumour and led to the retransmission of polio to 20 countries.