Miss Ashleigh Howard

Biography

Ashleigh Howard is a research microbiologist specialising in controlled human infection models, with expertise in clinical studies involving streptococcus pneumoniae, respiratory syncytial virus, SARS-CoV-2, bacillus calmette-guérin, and salmonella paratyphi A. Her work focuses on delivering the microbiological aspects of experimental human pneumococcal challenge studies, including the production of challenge agents under good clinical practice-like conditions and endpoint analysis. Ashleigh has contributed to major research projects, including Preventing Pneumo 2, the FASTER study, which developed a rapid test for SARS-CoV-2, and the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine trial.

She supports a portfolio of controlled human infection model research projects, ensuring regulatory compliance, coordinating multidisciplinary teams, and optimising study workflows to meet research objectives efficiently. Additionally, she provides support and guidance to the MARVELS team at Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust to help facilitate their controlled human infection model studies.

Ashleigh manages the daily operations of the Liverpool Vaccine Group laboratory, ensuring adherence to good clinical practice, good clinical laboratory practice, human tissue authority regulations, and medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency guidelines. She oversees inventory and sample management, resource allocation, budgeting, and financial reporting while identifying opportunities for continuous improvement. Additionally, she develops and implements novel laboratory techniques, establishes quality control policies and contributes to audits. As a CL3 expert user, Ashleigh ensures the safe operation of containment labs by training staff, enforcing biosafety protocols, and overseeing high-risk pathogen research.

She also mentors and develops laboratory staff, embedding diversity and inclusion within laboratory practices. Beyond research, Ashleigh is passionate about STEM outreach, delivering training and public engagement at events like the LSTM Time Machine Project, Clinical Trials Day, and Careers Day, to inspire future scientists.

Research interests

Ashleigh’s main research interests are controlled human infection models, host-pathogen interactions and immune response, transmission dynamics, infectious disease epidemiology, antimicrobial resistance, vaccine development, microbial genomic diversity and innovative laboratory techniques.

Selected research publications

Evaluation of the effect of serotype on pneumococcal conjugate vaccine-induced immunity: an exploratory analysis of the PREVENTING PNEUMO 2 trial – Journal: The Lancet Microbe – Published: 15th September 2026

Kinetic profile and mucosal capsular polysaccharide IgG responses to serotype 3 pneumococcus in the adult oropharynx following an experimental human challenge – Journal: Frontiers in Microbiology – Published: 10th August 2026

Effect of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on experimental carriage at 1-year post-vaccination on rechallenge with Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 6B in Blantyre, Malawi: a controlled human infection study and longitudinal follow-up of a randomised controlled trial – Journal: The Lancet Microbe – Published: 11th May 2026

The effect of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine on nasopharyngeal colonisation following human infection challenge with serotype 3 and serotype 6B (PREVENTING PNEUMO 2): a double-masked, randomised, controlled, phase 4 trial – Journal: The Lancet Microbe – Published: 13th February 2026

Protocol for a phase IV, Experimental Human Pneumococcal Challenge (EHPC) model to investigate Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3 (SPN3) colonisation following PCV15, a double-blind randomised controlled trial in healthy participants aged 18–50 years in the UK (RATIONALE-15) – Journal: BMJ Open – Published: 24th November 2025

View more publications