Vaccine and Immunotherapy Technologies

9-11 April 2008, Canberra

Professor Ian Ramshaw

Director, National Centre for Biosecurity, The Australian National University
Group Leader, Vaccine Immunology Group, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University

Ian Ramshaw completed his PhD at the Australian National University (ANU) in 1973 and developed a research career in immunology and the development of vaccines for infectious diseases such as HIV. He developed the prime boost immunisation strategy and cytokine co-expression, both of which have been in clinical trial for HIV-1 preventive and immunotherapeutic vaccines. He has also been studying the effect of co-expressing cytokine genes on the pathogenicity of viruses and published the seminal paper showing increased virulence of poxviruses expressing the gene for IL-4. This was the first example of a genetically manipulated organism showing increased virulence which brought to the fore the potential concerns of bioterrorism.

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