Institute: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Biography
I have always been interested in understanding host-pathogen interactions and in using my knowledge to solve global health issues. Both interests have helped me to direct my research career.
My current research focuses in identifying novel protein-based vaccine candidates against Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus). We are using samples derived from our pneumococcal human infection model and a large library of pneumococcal proteins to establish a correlation between protein-specific IgG antibody and IL-17A levels and protection against pneumococcal colonization. We are defining the best protein antigens for a new low-cost vaccine that provides protection against the over 96 pneumococcal serotypes.
Key Publications
SH Pennington, S Pojar, E Mitsi, JF Gritzfeld, E Nikolaou, C Solórzano, JT Owugha, Q Masood, MA Gordon, AD Wright, AM Collins, EN Miyaji, SB Gordon, DM Ferreira. 2016. Polysaccharide-specific memory B-cells predict protection against experimental human pneumococcal carriage. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 194(12): 1523–1531. doi:10.1164/rccm.201512-2467OC
Simon P. Jochems*, Katherine Piddock*, Jamie Rylance, Hugh Adler, Beatriz F. Carniel, Andrea Collins, Jenna F. Gritzfeld, Carole Hancock, Helen Hill, Jesus Reiné, Alexandra Seddon, Carla Solórzano, Syba Sunny, Ashleigh Trimble, Angela D. Wright, Seher Zaidi, Stephen B. Gordon, and Daniela M. Ferreira. 2017. Novel analysis of immune cells from nasal microbiopsy demonstrates reliable, reproducible data for immune populations, and superior cytokine detection compared to nasal wash. PloS One. 12(1): e0169805. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169805
Web Links of Interest