Dr Matt Cottingham
| Address: | The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus Research Building, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7DQ |
| Tel: | +44 (0)1865 617626 |
| Email: | |
| Website: | Vector Engineering |
Principal areas of research Virology, Molecular biology, Vaccine vector development, Vaccine antigen design, Immunology |
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Research
Viral vaccine vectors are one of the most promising technologies for development of desperately needed new vaccines against the major global killers, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, as well as other diseases. The main focus of my research is to use BAC recombineering to modify existing viral vaccine vectors in order to improve or alter their already potent immunogenicity, with a focus on replication-deficient simian adenoviruses and the attenuated vaccinia virus strain MVA. This has the potential to improve the efficacy of vaccines based on viral vectors for many indications.
The approaches taken include addition of immunostimulatory molecules, antigen engineering and removal of potentially undesirable viral immunomodulators. In parallel, I aim to elucidate and understand the poorly-characterised mechanisms responsible for differences in immunogenicity of the current generation of viruses in order to generate new approaches to improving their performance as vaccine vectors. The overall aim, constantly borne in mind, is to produce new improved vaccines for testing in human clinical trials. Deployment of new and existing vaccines in resource-poor settings is hindered by the need for continuous refrigeration. I also work on vaccine thermostabilisation using a technology which allows live vaccines to be stored at tropical temperatures for over a year.
