Institute: University of Oxford, UK
Biography
I have always been interested in translational research – how can what I am doing at the bench have an impact at the bedside? I have worked on both pre-clinical studies developing vaccines for outbreak pathogens, such as Ebola, and clinical trials for pre-erythrocytic Malaria (including a human challenge model) and outbreak pathogens, including MERS and Ebola. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked on immune responses to the Oxford ChAdOx1-nCoV vaccine for SARSCoV-2 currently in Phase III clinical trials. I led the lab team carrying out antibody testing post-vaccination. I was interested in the differences in antibody responses induced over time with different doses of vaccine, in different age groups and how this changes with administration of a booster vaccine.
Next, I worked at the Oxford Vaccine Group as a Senior Post-Doctoral Researcher. In this role, I led the lab team delivering clinical studies investigating enteric fever, including testing vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy using human challenge models.
I have now re-joined the Jenner Institute as a Senior Post-Doctoral immunologist to work in the pre-erythrocytic malaria clinical trials immunology team. My research focuses on understanding immune responses induced by R21 and other candidate pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccines throughout clinical development, both in UK and overseas studies. I am interested in immunological correlates of protection.
Key Publications
1. A. L. Flaxman, N. Marchevsky, D. Jenkin et al Reactogenicity and Immunogenicity After a Late Second Dose or a Third Dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 in the UK: a substudy of two randomised controlled trials (COV001 and COV002). Lancet 2021.
2. M. N. Ramasamy, A. M. Minassian, K. J. Ewer, A. L Flaxman et al Safety and immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine administered in a prime-boost regimen in young and old adults (COV002): a single-blind, randomised, controlled, phase 2/3 trial. Lancet 2020.
3. S. Sebastian, A. Flaxman, K.M. Cha et al. A Multi-Filovirus Vaccine Candidate: Co-Expression of Ebola, Sudan, and Marburg Antigens in a Single Vector. Vaccines 2020.
4. P. M. Folegatti, M. Bittaye, A. Flaxman et al. Safety and immunogenicity of a candidate Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus viral-vectored vaccine: a dose-escalation, open-label, non-randomised, uncontrolled, phase 1 trial. Lancet ID 2020
Web Links of Interest
https://www.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk/team/amy-flaxman
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-flaxman-b8791b9b/