Page 27 - LSTM_AnnualReport1415

LSTM Annual
Report 2014/15

The team has previously used the model to test the e cacy
of a licensed pneumonia vaccine and has now successfully
completed a trial in which the model was used to test the

e ect of a novel pneumococcal vaccine on carriage. The
Phase 2a trial involving just over 90 participants tested

GEN004, a protein-based vaccine candidate from Genocea
Biosciences (Cambridge, USA) in partnership with the Clinical

Research Unit at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. The
team will now test whether the new nasal live attenuated u
vaccine alters pneumococcal carriage. The study comes as

the nasal spray vaccine, already o ered in the USA, is being
o ered as the u vaccine of choice for children in the UK and Smoke from cooking rising

will be o ered to all children in the next few years.
from a house in Malawi

As a result of these successful trials and the resulting grants,
the team has set-up the EHPC Consortium which includes Chronic lung disease in sub Saharan Africa
over 30 UK based and international collaborators. All are

world leaders in their eld of pneumococcal research and Collaborative projects led from LSTM and MLW are yielding
work together to develop improved pneumonia vaccines.
new insights into the burden of lung disease in sub Saharan

Africa. Initial ndings of The Blantyre Health Study were
In addition, the team won over £600,000 from the MRC presented at the European Respiratory Society International

Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme to conduct pre- Meeting in Amsterdam in September 2015. This study found
clinical toxicology screening for a novel therapeutic agent that just over 40% of the adult population around Blantyre
P4 peptide. This Streptococcal peptide promotes increased have abnormal lung function when measured using close-to-

bacterial killing by phagocytic cells in vitro and in vivo.
patient lung function monitors.
Data from this project, led by Dr Ben Morton, will support

an application to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Respiratory research in the UK’s North West
Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for rst in human clinical trials.

Aligned to this project, Dr Morton has also won funding Clinical academics from LSTM provide leadership in
from the MRC Con dence in Concept scheme to re ne, respiratory research for Liverpool and the NIHR North West
standardise and evaluate a near-point test of immune Coast Clinical Research Network. They are actively engaged in

function to guide the administration of immune-modulatory managing a large research portfolio and supervising students
therapies.
and trainees on all levels of the NIHR clinical academic

training scheme.
Household Air Pollution in low and middle income countries
Air pollution in homes caused by smoke from dirty-burning Non-communicable diseases (NCDs)

fuels used for cooking, heating and lighting causes four
million preventable deaths every year. LSTM e orts to tackle NCDs are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity

this problem over the last year saw a ministerial visit from worldwide. The commonest NCDs are airways diseases
DFID and BBC News Science Reporter Victoria Gill travel
(asthma and COPD) that, regardless of global location,

to Malawi to cover the MRC, Wellcome Trust and DFID require strategies to target lifestyle interventions and
funded Cooking And Pneumonia Study (CAPS) resulting in expensive lifelong therapy toward those at highest risk of
widespread coverage. CAPS related work has received further adverse outcomes. Dr John Blakey’s work to assess, modify,

research grant funding from the Wellcome Trust and Bill and and convey an individual’s risk of a future asthma attack
Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) over the last 12 months.
includes a self-assessment tool in collaboration with Asthma

UK, database studies including over 100,000 individuals
with asthma (Respiratory E ectiveness Group, NIHR) and The MRC funded BREATHE-

prospective studies in the UK and Ecuador (Wellcome Trust).
Africa Partnership and
continues to train African
The relative numbers of healthcare professionals is falling doctors and scientists from

being outstripped by population growth whilst the burden across the continent in
of chronic NCDs is increasing. Advances in the capability and research methodology related

a ordability of newer information technologies and sensors to lung health and household
could help address this problem by facilitating community air pollution through the PATS
New cookstove aiming to reduce
management of NCDs by less expert providers, and through Household Air Pollution
MECOR programme.
more e cient use of in-patient healthcare resources. LSTM is
engaged in discipline-bridging research in this area, including Dr Kevin Mortimer and Professor Stephen Gordon presented

a multi-centre study using novel indoor positioning data at the American Thoracic Society Environmental Health Policy
(Health Foundation funded) in collaboration with the Royal Committee Workshop at the American Thoracic Society

College of Physicians.
International Conference in Denver in May 2015.

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