04 October 2023

Second Research Day webinar hosted by the ‘Young ISSAD’ Committee to celebrate World Meningitis Day.

The invited speaker for this seminar was Dr Kirsty Le Doare who is a Professor of Vaccinology and Immunology and chief investigator for SGUL@MUJHU maternal vaccine and seroepidemiology studies. Dr Le Doare is the chair of the DNDi maternal and neonatal health COVID19 research coalition and is a WHO scientific advisor for maternal vaccination. Dr Le Doare’s group wants to understand why some babies get very ill and die from infections in the first months of life and how we can harness protection transferred from mother to her baby via the placenta and in breastmilk. The groups led by Dr Le Doare in Uganda and the UK use a variety of approaches to study GBS and other neonatal pathogens such as E. coli and Klebsiella, ranging from clinical studies and whole genome sequencing, to in vitro and in vivo models and complex immunology.