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FEATURE ARTICLE:

Lung Health

&TB

LSTM’s research covers the full spectrum of the complex, often poverty

driven, global problems around chronic lung diseases, respiratory infection

and Tuberculosis (TB). It aims to reduce infection, improve prevention and

optimise treatments.

The causes of these problems are complex, very often rooted controlled experimental nasal carriage in humans that has

in poverty, and include infections such as Mycobacterium been used to study immunological correlates of mucosal
tuberculosis and Streptococcus pneumoniae, and non- protection and to test the protection of new vaccines against
communicable conditions such as asthma and chronic pneumococcal carriage.

obstructive pulmonary disease.
Last year was very successful for the team with nearly £4

The solutions require multi-disciplinary, collaborations aimed million awarded in grants for pneumococcal research from
at both prevention and management of the full spectrum of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the
communicable and non-communicable lung conditions.
Medical Research Council (MRC). The two grants awarded

to Dr Daniela Ferreira and Professor Stephen Gordon will
further develop and utilise the LSTM Experimental Human
LUNG HEALTH
Pneumococcal Carriage (EHPC) model.

Vaccine Immunology and Translational Research
This model is the only one of its kind in the world and it can
be used for vaccine development, examining pneumococcal
Pneumonia is the leading killer of children under 5 years
biology, exploring mucosal immunity and host susceptibility.

of age worldwide and has a large impact in the most It involves volunteers having the pneumococcal bacteria
underserved populations. Current pneumococcal vaccines placed directly into their nasal passage and examining

do not protect well against pneumonia so there is a need their immune responses and pneumococcal biology in a
for improved vaccines. Our team has developed a model of
controlled manner.

The Experimental Human
Pneumococcal Carriage (EHPC) Team

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