The tutors listed below all spoke on the course last year, and may be subject to change.
Course Tutor
CSO, Ducentis Biotherapeutics Ltd
Rebecca Ashfield gained a first degree in Biochemistry and DPhil in molecular biology, both from the University of Oxford.
Dr Ashfield worked for 12 years at Immunocore Ltd, a biotechnology company making protein therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy, and joined the Jenner Institute in 2013 as a senior project manager for pre-clinical malaria, working with Professor Adrian Hill. She is now the CSO of Ducentis Biotherapeutics Ltd.
Caesar Atuire
Course Tutor
Course Tutor
Qualified Person, Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility (CBF), University of Oxford
Dr Eleanor Berrie is Qualified Person for The Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility (CBF), University of Oxford, in this role she is registered with the MHRA as QP for IMPs. Eleanor has a background in advanced therapy Investigational Medicinal Products in both biotech and academic settings. She is responsible for the management of the quality and regulatory compliance of novel academic projects produced within the CBF’s GMP facility. In addition to this Eleanor supports clinical colleagues in regulatory submissions to ensure EU GMP compliance; audits international pharmaceutical suppliers and acts as a specialist consultant in this area as required.
The Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility has 15 years’ experience producing biological Investigational Medicinal Products (IMPs) according to the principles of GMP for early phase clinical trials. The CBF provides the link between academic research and clinical drug development, allowing our collaborators to progress into clinical trials. The CBF holds a Manufacturer’s Authorisation for Investigational Medicinal Products (MA (IMPs)) from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and has 3 nominated Qualified Persons (QP).
Course Tutor
Senior Manager, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals
Mark Doherty obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology (double major) in 1983 and in Microbiology with 1st class honours in 1986, both from Massey University in New Zealand, before completing a PhD in Immunobiology at the Auckland University School of Medicine in 1989.
Subsequently he worked at the DNAX research Institutes and the National Institutes of Health in the United States, and at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen. During this period, he also held adjunct professorships at the Gade Institute for International Health, at the University of Bergen in Norway and St. John’s School of Medicine in Bangalore, India. He has also been a Gates Senior Visiting Research Fellow at Aeras/NIH, and a WHO Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Sao Paulo in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
In 2011, Prof. Doherty joined GSK, where he works today as a senior manager in the Above Brands/Vaccine Science team.Prof. Doherty’s expertise is in the development of the early immune response - particularly the interactions of T cells and antigen presenting cells that can influence the development of T cell helper subsets. In this area, his particular specialties have been immune cell crosstalk and cytokine biology. This work has focused strongly on practical applications of basic research, such as biosignatures of infection and disease, or adjuvant and vaccine design.
At GSK he provides support and expertise on issues such as adjuvant safety and development, maternal and risk-group vaccination and basic immunology that are relevant to multiple vaccines. He has particular interest in vaccination for older adults and vaccines as a tool for antimicrobial stewardship.
At GSK he continues to work with academic colleagues on ongoing clinical field studies, to publish in peer-reviewed journals, to work as an editor on various immunology journals, to work participate in WHO working groups, and to lecture and teach externally in immunology and vaccinology.
Course Tutor
Group Head / PI, University of Oxford
I am an academic clinician and hold a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship for Clinicians (i.e. Career Development fellowship). My main interests are the development of antibody-inducing vaccines against the sporozoite stage of malaria and the development of a novel thermostable rabies vaccine.
In earlier work, I identified the potential of PfRH5 as an antigen capable of inducing highly potent strain-transcending neutralising antibodies against the disease causing blood-stage of Plasmodium falciparum and demonstrated that PfRH5-based vaccines could achieve in vivo protection against a virulent P. falciparum challenge. These vaccines are now in clinical trials.
Course Tutor
Senior Immunologist, The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford
Dr Katie Ewer qualified as a Biomedical Scientist in 2000 at the microbiology department of the John Radcliffe Hospital before joining the University of Oxford as a Research Assistant. She gained a PhD in Immunology in 2004 through The Open University for her work with Dr Ajit Lalvani in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine on novel diagnostic tools for tuberculosis. In 2004, she joined VLA (now AHVLA) and managed the roll-out of interferon-gamma-based diagnosis for bovine TB in the UK herd for DEFRA as well as undertaking research to study immune correlates of protection for TB vaccines in cattle.
Katie joined the Jenner Institute as a Senior Immunologist in 2008 and co-ordinates immunogenicity testing for pre-erythrocytic malaria and Ebola vaccine trials in Oxford and at field sites in East and West Africa. Her work focusses on describing immune responses to viral vectored vaccines in adults and children, identifying vaccine-induced immune correlates of protection and transcriptional profiling of responses to malaria and Ebola vaccines.
Course Director
Director, The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford
Principal areas of research: Malaria vaccines, vectored vaccine development, immunogenetics of infectious disease susceptibility
Adrian Hill trained in medicine at Trinity College Dublin and the University of Oxford, qualifying in 1982. He undertook a DPhil with Sir David Weatherall and John Clegg at the MRC Molecular Haematology unit on the molecular population genetics of thalassaemia in Pacific Islanders. Following further clinical posts in London he returned to the newly opened Institute of Molecular Medicine in 1988 to study genetic susceptibility to malaria as a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow. In 1995 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship and in 1996 the title of Professor of Human Genetics. He participated in the founding of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in 1994, and in 2003 co-founded the Oxford Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, which he now chairs. In 2004 he participated in the restructuring of the Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research and in 2005 was appointed director of the new Jenner Institute. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, of Magdalen College, Oxford, and of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences
Course Tutor
BRC Consultant in Paediatrics and Vaccinology, University of Oxford
Dr. Kelly is a BRC funded consultant in paediatrics and vaccinology. He divides his time between working in general paediatrics and paediatric infectious disease at the Children’s Hospital in Oxford and vaccine related research within the Oxford Vaccine Group.
His research interests are centred around vaccines and vaccine preventable disease in childhood and include the immunology of B-cell responses to vaccines in childhood, B-cell receptor genetics as a tool for understanding immune responses, pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and the epidemiology of invasive bacterial disease and pneumonia in Nepal.
Course Tutor
Associate Professor and Principal Investigator at The University of Oxford
Teresa Lambe is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator in the Medical Sciences Division at the University of Oxford. Prof Lambe’s specific areas of expertise include zoonotic disease description, vaccine development and clinical trial assessment of interventions. She continues to work on vaccines against globally important diseases including Ebola, Influenza, Nipah, MERS, and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.
Prof Lambe is one of the Principal Investigators overseeing the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine programme. In January 2020, Teresa co-designed the vaccine, led the preclinical studies and then oversaw the delivery of the immune results needed to support regulatory approval of the vaccine in late 2020. The vaccine has been delivered to nearly half a billion people worldwide and has played a pivotal role in the fight against COVID-19. Prof. Lambe was awarded an honorary OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2021.
Course Tutor
Associate Director, Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO)
Laura Merson joined ERGO and IDDO in 2015 to support new platform initiatives for emerging infections and neglected tropical diseases, including coordination of the Ebola Data Sharing Platform. This joint position integrates many of Laura’s research interests including exploring issues in sharing biomedical research data and in changing the paradigm of clinical research in outbreaks to enable rapid research response to emerging infections. As an executive member of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC), Laura has contributed to the development of standardized, open-access research protocols designed for outbreak response in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Before moving to Oxford, Laura spent more than six years building capacity in research design, implementation and ethics across Asia and Africa as Head of Clinical Trials for the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Viet Nam.
Course Tutor
Chief Technical Officer, Oxford Biomedica
Dr Miskin joined Oxford Biomedica in 2000. He has more than 17 years experience in the GxP environment. In his current role, he has overall responsibility for Oxford Biomedica’s Quality systems, analytical testing, lentiviral based bioprocessing development and client programmes. He is also a named inventor on several patents in the field. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Leeds and subsequently conducted post-doctoral research at The Pirbright Institute for a number of years. He is an active member of the UK BioIndustry Association Manufacturing Advisory Committee and is the Advanced Therapies work stream lead for The Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP).
Course Tutor
Dr. Lee Smith’s experience spans biopharmaceutical CMC, process, analytical, formulation pre-clinical and clinical assay development as well as experience in product characterisation and regulatory submissions and interactions. He is regularly involved in applying QbD and advising on the use of DoE and data analysis for processes, formulation and assays, with a particular expertise in bioassays. This includes the development, optimisation and validation of both biopharmaceutical processes and methods.
Course Tutor
Vaccine Developer
Mike is a BSc Biochemist and then completed his PhD in Immunology at the Royal London Hospital. Post-doctoral study at the Institute for Animal Health (IAH) focused in investigating CTL responses in horses infected with Equine Herpesvirus 1. This was then followed by working as a post-doctoral scientist at The Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research examining the immune activation of dendritic cells and their role in defining TH1/TH2 immune responses.
Mike then moved over into industry and spent seven years as Head of Research at Onyvax Ltd. This company was developing allogeneic whole cell vaccines for cancer. Mike’s team was involved in both pre-clinical proof of concept studies, and then the examination of samples from both Phase I and II clinical trials. He joined iQur Ltd in 2006 and his team helped develop a universal influenza vaccine based on a novel virus like particle vaccine platform. Mike is currently working as a freelance consultant.
Course Tutor
Associate Professor and Deputy Academic Director, Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Oxford
Ly-Mee Yu has over 20 years of experience as a medical statistician and specifically in clinical trials for the past 12 years.
She has worked in a wide range of clinical areas and also a member of the Oxford Tropical Research Ethics Committee, as well as a member of Data and Safety Monitoring Committee, and Trial Steering Committee of several national and international trials.
