University Of Southampton Receives Grant From Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The University of Southampton has received a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The researchers team, led by microbiologist Jeremy Webb, was awarded funding to design new vaccines that will give protection against the bacteria that cause pneumonia and meningitis.

The researchers at University of Southampton’s Schools of Biological Sciences and Medicine, working with colleagues at the University of Bristol and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, aim to create vaccines to stop bacteria ganging together and forming a defence layer, or biofilm, against antibiotics and the body’s immune system. By targeting biofilms, researchers hope to reduce the mortality associated with meningitis and pneumonia.

Dr Jeremy Webb, from the University of Southampton’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “Vaccines in use today are generally based on the properties of single-celled bacteria. Our approach is new because we will target properties of the protective biofilms in order to design new vaccines.”