Transforming Vaccinology - ABSTRACT
Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Transforming Vaccinology, organized by
Drs. Rino Rappuoli, Lynda M. Stuart and Federica Sallusto. The conference will be held in Florence, Italy from
March 15-19, 2020.
Along with clean water and antibiotics, vaccination has allowed mankind to conquer the infectious diseases
that used to eradicate about 50% of children. Over the last century, vaccination has also extended life
expectancy from under 50 to over 80 years of age. Now that the most important vaccines for infants and
children are available, vaccination faces new challenges with the intent to bring the benefits of vaccines to
other age groups, emerging infections, antimicrobial resistance, diseases that afflict low-income countries, and
to improve therapies against chronic infectious diseases, cancer, autoimmune and neurodegenerative
diseases. This new vaccine ambition is supported by the incredible advances in science and technology that
make it technically possible to develop vaccines against many new targets and by innovative approaches to
vaccine development for emerging infections and for diseases of low-income countries. The technologies that
are transforming vaccinology are structure-based design, adjuvants, nucleic acid vaccines (especially RNA),
viral vectors, systems biology, and controlled human infections. They are supported by scientific advances in
human immunology, genomics, synthetic biology, molecular structure of antigens and antigen-antibody
complexes, germinal centers, and microbiome. Conference participants will be exposed to the multidisciplinary
technologies that are transforming vaccinology, including the efforts of CEPI, Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and Welcome Trust, to change the way vaccines are developed.
