This webinar, co-hosted by South African Immunology Society (SAIS) and Immunoapedia featured talks by Prof Shabir Madhi on “COVID-19 vaccines being evaluated in South Africa” and Prof Ed Rybicki on “Alternative vaccine approaches for SARS-CoV-2”. (Full Bios available below).
Professor Shabir Madhi is Professor of Vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand; co-founder and co-Director of the African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise. He qualified at Wits as a paediatrician in 1996 and obtained his PhD in 2003. He holds the positions of Director of the SAMRC Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit and Research Chair in Vaccine Preventable Diseases of Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation. He served as the Director of the NICD (2011-2017), and is Chair of the National Advisory Group on Immunization in South Africa. He has authored over 360 scientific publications on epidemiology, clinical development of pneumococcal vaccines, diarrheal disease and maternal immunization. These studies have aided the WHO and SAGE policy on vaccination in low-middle income countries. He has served as a temporary–consultant/technical advisor to World Health Organization in the field of pneumonia and vaccines.
Professor Ed Rybicki is a Professor in Microbiology and Director of the Biopharming Research Unit (BRU) in the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology at UCT. His research interests are in vaccine biotechnology and molecular virology, with an emphasis on making high-value and pharmaceutically-relevant proteins via transient expression in plants. The BRU presently has projects on making SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, HIV subunit vaccines, and investigating plant expression of emerging virus proteins and candidate vaccines for diseases of veterinary importance.
Webinar was funded by Inqaba Biotec
