César López-Camacho
PhD, MRes, BSc
RNA Technology Programme Leader
- mRNA-based vaccine development.
- Viral-vectored vaccine research.
- Vaccine development for arthropod-borne pathogens.
Genetic design of a mRNA vaccine platform utilising molecular cloning, in-silico gene design and optimisation of gene expression with high induction of adaptive immune response in pre-clinical models.
PROFILE
César López-Camacho holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, and has held four postdoctoral positions in molecular biology, fidelity of gene expression, and vaccinology at UMASS Medical School-USA, University of Vermont College of Medicine-USA and the Jenner Institute at University of Oxford, respectively.
He is currently a Senior Researcher at the Jenner Institute. In conjunction with Prof Adrian Hill KBE, FRCP, FRS, director of the Jenner Institute, he has been awarded a JFF grant to develop and test an mRNA vaccine based platform using novel Lipid Nanoparticles (LNPs) for encapsulation.
During the coronavirus pandemic, his scientific activity encompassed the design and protein production of SARS-CoV-2 antigens to be utilised as diagnostic tools, for coronavirus research applications and for the exploration of the immune responses in COVID-19 convalescent individuals in the Laboratory of Prof. Gavin Screaton. He is part of the COVID-19 Outbreak Expert Database for the UK parliament; part of the National COVID Testing Scientific Advisory Panel and joined the College of Experts to Support the Global Effort on COVID-19 (GECO), as grant applications reviewer.
In the pre-COVID era, his main research aims are the immunopathogenesis of Dengue virus and vaccine development of novel antigen candidates, to induce specific anti-flavivirus antibody responses against functional and conformational epitopes. Doctor López-Camacho joined the Jenner Institute in 2014 as a postdoctoral researcher in Reyes-Sandoval’s group and worked on vaccine development for several arboviruses (Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya and Mayaro viruses). During this time he extensively published scientific work, both as first author and as co-author, in relation to arboviral, parasitic (malaria and chagas disease) and Papillomavirus vaccine developments.
In terms of intellectual property activities, he is an inventor and collaborator in vaccine-related Patents.
Key publications
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Rational Zika vaccine design via the modulation of antigen membrane anchors in chimpanzee adenoviral vectors
Journal article
López-Camacho C. et al, (2018), Nature Communications, 9
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Immunogenicity and Efficacy of Zika Virus Envelope Domain III in DNA, Protein, and ChAdOx1 Adenoviral-Vectored Vaccines.
Journal article
López-Camacho C. et al, (2020), Vaccines, 8
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Assessment of Immunogenicity and Neutralisation Efficacy of Viral-Vectored Vaccines Against Chikungunya Virus
Journal article
López-Camacho C. et al, (2019), Viruses, 11, 322 - 322
Recent publications
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Preprint
McNaughton AL. et al, (2021)
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Journal article
Dejnirattisai W. et al, (2021), Cell, 184, 2939 - 2954.e9
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Journal article
Zhou D. et al, (2021), Cell, 184, 2348 - 2361.e6
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Journal article
Supasa P. et al, (2021), Cell, 184, 2201 - 2211.e7
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Journal article
Dejnirattisai W. et al, (2021), Cell, 184, 2183 - 2200.e22