Malaria Vaccine Development Branch

The Malaria Vaccine Development Branch (MVDB) was commissioned in 2001 to research, develop, and produce prototype malaria vaccines and conduct early-phase clinical trials of promising vaccine candidates. Our overarching goal is to develop malaria vaccines that will reduce severe disease and death among African children and eliminate malaria from low-transmission areas of the world.

MVDB has an organizational structure and vaccine development strategy that allows it to operate more like a small biotech firm than a typical research laboratory. Specialists in each step of the development process, from antigen selection to clinical trials, contribute their expertise as the candidate moves along the development pathway.  This allows multiple vaccine candidates to move from concept to clinical trials efficiently and rapidly. Objectives of the branch include 

• Developing a strategy for asexual blood-stage, transmission- blocking, and pre-erythrocytic-stage vaccines
• Producing and formulating antigens
• Developing assays and animal trials that define the potential for protection
• Establishing clinical trials to test vaccines in the United States and in the developing world
• Establishing scientific collaborations and outside funding to accelerate the program

Read the National Geographic article, Bedlam in the Blood: Malaria.

More About MVDB

Organizational Structure and Leadership
Development Strategy
Product Groups
Product Development Timeline
Units
Publications
Opportunities: Positions Available, Postdoctoral Opportunities 

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