Professor Helen McShane
About
Professor Helen McShane researches new vaccines for tuberculosis. One of the areas her group is currently studying is whether delivering a TB vaccine via the aerosol route (through nebulisation directly into the lungs) is a more effective method of vaccination. In the last few years they have started clinical trials investigating aerosol delivery of the vaccine candidate MVA85A and have shown this route to be both safe and immunogenic. Other current projects include the development of a BCG challenge model in humans, evaluating the effect of helminth infection on vaccine induced immune responses, and the evaluation of the protective efficacy of new antigens in viral vectors.
Expertise
- Vaccines, including tuberculosis (TB) vaccines
- Tuberculosis immunology
- HIV / AIDS
- Clinical trials
Selected publications
- Safety and immunogenicity of a candidate tuberculosis vaccine MVA85A delivered by aerosol in BCG-vaccinated healthy adults: a phase 1, double-blind, randomised controlled trial (2014)
- A review of preclinical animal models utilised for TB vaccine evaluation in the context of recent human efficacy data (2014)
- Safety and efficacy of MVA85A, a new tuberculosis vaccine, in infants previously vaccinated with BCG: a randomised, placebo-controlled phase 2b trial (2013)
- Identification of antigens presented by MHC for vaccines against tuberculosis
- Alternate aerosol and systemic immunisation with a recombinant viral vector for tuberculosis, MVA85A: A phase I randomised controlled trial
- T-cell activation is an immune correlate of risk in BCG vaccinated infants
- The influence of haemoglobin and iron on in vitro mycobacterial growth inhibition assays
Media experience
Professor McShane has extensive media experience with print, broadcast and online outlets.