When Professor Michael Good first arrived at Griffith University seven years ago he never imagined that a vaccine to protect against the nasty Streptococcus A infection would already be at pharmaceutical development stage.
But with the support of Vice Chancellor Ian O’Connor, Institute for Glycomics Director Professor Mark von Itzstein and a remarkable research team working in the Institute’s Laboratory for Vaccines for the Developing World, the NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow was able to raise hope for millions.
Professor Good’s team’s outstanding work led to a major translational outcome for the Institute in 2016, with the signing of a significant licensing agreement with major international vaccine manufacturing company, Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals in China. It is for this achievement they have been recognised with the Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award for a research group or team.
Their needle-free vaccine targets Streptococcus A infections, the cause of strep throat and rheumatic heart disease.
Globally it is