Immunity and Vaccines
QIMR has a major effort devoted to the combat of infectious diseases
through the development of human vaccines - the ultimate medical defence
against infectious diseases.
It is through vaccines that smallpox has been eradicated and
poliomyelitis has been eliminated from the Western world. Measles and
chicken pox are currently being targeted and may be the next to disappear.
Successful vaccines rely on a full understanding of the immune mechanisms that protect from disease. Antibodies and T cell immunity play key roles in defence against many infections, cancers and other challenges to the immune system, and in the rejection of unmatched organ transplants.
Vaccine research requires a multi-disciplinary approach which involves expertise in basic and applied immunology, pathogenesis, molecular and structural biology with preclinical and clinical trials methodology.
QIMR now encompasses this varied expertise within a single institution focused on improving vaccine design and developing new vaccine based immunotherapies at: