Funding vaccine research at Oxford University A £50 million donation will create a new centre for the world-class Jenner Institute, says Healthcare World Editor Sarah Cartledge
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he AstraZeneca vaccine was one of the first weapons against COVID-19, developed by Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert and her team at the Jenner Institute at Oxford University. Within just 65 days the vaccine was ready to start clinical trials and since then more than 1.5 billion doses have been deployed, potentially saving millions of lives.
As a leading vaccinologist, Professor Gilbert now has other vaccines in her sights, including Ebola, Zika, Rift Valley Fever, Dengue and even the Plague. While funding has been an issue in the past, the sudden arrival of COVID-19 has put the spotlight firmly on preparation against future pandemics. As a result, Oxford University has received the largest-ever gift for vaccines research
from Serum Life Sciences, wholly-owned by the Poonawalla family of the Serum Institute of India, who have dedicated their life’s work to the development, manufacture and supply of affordable vaccines to low-and middle-income countries. “Vaccines save lives, and the development of vaccines has been the lifelong focus of the Poonawalla family,” says Natasha Poonawalla, Chair, Serum Life Sciences. “We are committed to developing and supplying vaccines to people who need them most. We are making this keystone donation to give the world-class team at Oxford a brand-new facility from which to take their research to the next level.” The Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building will be built on the same site as the recently announced Oxford
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