Dr Nigel Temperton in collaboration with Dr Kristien Van Reeth from the University of Ghent recently won a Kent-Ghent 2020 Research Partnership award. Funding has been awarded to the project concerning “Evaluating broadly protective influenza A virus vaccines for humans and swine, using digitally designed virus pseudotypes”. The main purpose of this partnership is to link Dr Temperton’s expertise in influenza pseudotype-based serological assays with Dr Reeth’s expertise in swine influenza vaccination. It is hoped that this funding can be used to obtain preliminary data on the serological delineation of antibodies targeted against the viral surface HA and NA in vaccinated vs infected pigs. This data has the potential to inform both swine and human universal vaccine approaches.
Dr Temperton has historical links with Ghent as he was an international expert member of the PhD examination committee for Dr Isabel Leroux-Roels, the current Principal investigator at the Centre for Vaccinology (CEVAC), University of Ghent. He also undertook funded R&D on influenza nanobodies with the Ghent company Ablynx, a VIB spin-out. This was published in PLoS.