Improving vaccines targeted at keeping the community safe and healthy will be the core focus of Griffith University’s new Centre of Research Excellence.

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) in Vaccine Adjuvant Discovery and Development (Vaccine-ADD) will be located at Griffith’s Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics at the Brisbane South (Nathan) and Gold Coast campuses, and will include partners from around Australia. 

Vaccine-ADD researchers will discover new adjuvants, which are components of many current vaccines.

Adjuvants can provide important benefits such as improving vaccine efficacy, including in people at higher risk of disease such as those over 65 or with weak immune systems.

Associate Professor Danielle Stanisic and Professor Katherine Andrews

CRE Director, Professor Katherine Andrews, said vaccines played a critical role in human health and wellbeing.

“Over the past 50 years, it’s estimated more than 150 million lives have been protected due to vaccines against diseases such as polio, measles, whooping cough, tuberculosis, and COVID-19,” Professor Andrews said.

“Many of these vaccines contain adjuvants.

“It is imperative we discover new adjuvants so we can improve vaccines, including minimising injection site reactions, decreasing the time between booster vaccines, and providing adjuvants for different or new types of vaccines where current adjuvant options may not be suitable.

“We hope to achieve this by discovering and developing new chemical compounds with properties which could make them candidates as new vaccine adjuvants.”

CRE co-Director, Associate Professor Danielle Stanisic, said: “Our team of national experts will test unique, Australian-owned chemistry from Griffith University and partner organisations to identify new adjuvant candidates, investigate how these molecules work, and test them in vaccines using cancer and infectious disease models.”

The Vaccine-ADD CRE will also have a strong focus on providing mentoring and professional development opportunities for the next generation of vaccine scientists.

Associate Professor Stanisic said: “We hope our research will not only unearth new adjuvants but will also provide the opportunity to address consumer needs for new safe and effective vaccines.”

The NHMRC has provided Griffith University with $3 million in funding over the next five years for the Vaccine-ADD CRE.

3: Good Health and Well-being
UN Sustainable Development Goals 3: Good Health and Well-being