Professor Simon J Draper

About

Professor Draper leads the Blood-Stage Malaria Vaccine group, based at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford. He researches potential malaria vaccines, which aim to induce immunity to the malaria parasite while it is in the blood. Malaria continues to exert a huge burden on global public health, and the development of a highly effective vaccine has proved extremely challenging.

The disease-causing blood-stage of the parasite’s life-cycle is known to be susceptible to antibodies. However, the field has faced significant hurdles in translating this knowledge into efficacious vaccine products. Professor Draper's research group identifies new targets within the parasite that may prove to be more successful in inducing protective efficacy against malaria following human vaccination. They also assess the human antibody response to important malaria proteins, and this information can then be used to guide the rational design of new and improved vaccine candidates.