Dr Sumi Biswas

Research

My research interests include development of vaccines against malaria and primarily vaccines that aim to block transmission. This builds on work I previously did at the Jenner Institute on the development of blood-stage malaria vaccines and continue to do so mainly on the clinical side of the project.

We are utilising a simian adenovirus (ChAd63) and poxvirus (MVA) viral vectored vaccine platform to screen mosquito-stage antigens for effective antibody induction and ways of improving vaccine-induced antibody immunogenicity. The aim of this work is to provide the first and much needed head-to-head assessment of the in vivo efficacy of the known leading transmission-blocking vaccine (TBV) candidate antigens (both parasite and mosquito based), as well as look for novel antigens aimed at de-regulating the mosquito’s innate immune system in favour of transmission-blocking activity. The innate immune response of the mosquito considerably hinders the development of the parasite but this is often not sufficient to clear the infection. In natural infection of the mosquito by Plasmodium malaria parasites, there has to be a fine balance between the immune response against the parasite and immune pathology which is reportedly detrimental to the health of the mosquito. We are trying to tip this balance in favour of the mosquito’s immune system, which will hinder parasite development and reduce malaria transmission. This novel strategy if successful would not only work against potentially all five malaria species that infect humans, but likely also against some other mosquito-transmitted diseases and could have a major impact in decreasing the burden of vector-borne diseases. I have a Grand Challenge Explorations Grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to investigate this approach.

Key Publications

Biswas S, Dicks MD, Long CA, Remarque EJ, Siani L, Colloca S, Cottingham MG, Holder AA, Gilbert SC, Hill AV, Draper SJ. 2011. Transgene Optimization, Immunogenicity and In Vitro Efficacy of Viral Vectored Vaccines Expressing Two Alleles of Plasmodium falciparum AMA1. PLoS One, 6 (6), pp. e20977.

Goodman AL, Epp C, Moss D, Holder AA, Wilson JM, Gao GP, Long CA, Remarque EJ, Thomas AW, Ammendola V, Colloca S, Dicks MDJ, Biswas S, Seibel D, van Duivenvoorde LM, Gilbert SC, Hill AVS, Draper SJ. 2011. New Candidate Vaccines against Blood-Stage Plasmodium falciparum Malaria: Prime-Boost Immunization Regimens Incorporating Human and Simian Adenoviral Vectors and Poxviral Vectors Expressing an Optimized Antigen Based on Merozoite Surface Protein 1, (vol 78, pg 4610, 2010) INFECT IMMUN, 79 (5), pp. 2132-2132.

Draper SJ, Goodman AL, Biswas S, Forbes EK, Moore AC, Gilbert SC, Hill AVS. 2011. Recombinant Viral Vaccines Expressing Merozoite Surface Protein-1 Induce Antibody- and T Cell-Mediated Multistage Protection against Malaria (vol 5, pg 95, 2009) CELL HOST MICROBE, 9 (3), pp. 252-252.

Porter DW, Thompson FM, Berthoud TK, Hutchings CL, Andrews L, Biswas S, Poulton I, Prieur E, Correa S, Rowland R, Lang T, Williams J, Gilbert SC, Sinden RE, Todryk S, Hill AV. 2011. A human Phase I/IIa malaria challenge trial of a polyprotein malaria vaccine. Vaccine, 29 (43), pp. 7514-7522.

Draper SJ, Biswas S, Spencer AJ, Remarque EJ, Capone S, Naddeo M, Dicks MD, Faber BW, de Cassan SC, Folgori A, Nicosia A, Gilbert SC, Hill AV. 2010. Enhancing blood-stage malaria subunit vaccine immunogenicity in rhesus macaques by combining adenovirus, poxvirus, and protein-in-adjuvant vaccines. J Immunol, 185 (12), pp. 7583-7595.