Martha Sedegah, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist, US Naval Medical Research Center
Malaria Vaccines: past, present and future

Few doubt that one of the most important interventions against malaria will be a vaccine ‰ÛÒ if only one could be developed. The current leading vaccine candidate, called RTS,S, is only partially protective, delaying rather than preventing malaria infection in most cases. In order to achieve stronger immunity, the US Military Malaria Vaccine Program, working in partnership with the biotechnology company GenVec, Inc and USAID has developed an adenovirus-vectored vaccine that consists of two components, each encoding one antigenic target from the malaria parasite. Dr Sedegah, the senior scientist conducting the immunological assessment of the first volunteers immunized with this vaccine, will report on the strong, longlasting immune responses that have been observed following a single dose. Dr. Sedegah will also describe the military's exciting new effort to develop an attenuated whole organism vaccine in partnership with the biotechnology company Sanaria. Dr. Sedegah will outline the pathway for testing the efficacy of these vaccines using experimental malaria challenge and then describe the progression to field studies in Africa where, in collaboration with African research institutions, promising vaccines will be assessed for their ability to reduce the terrible burden of malaria.

Check out the speakers from our previous symposium on HIV and Malaria and our upcoming symposium on Maternal and Infant Health.