The overarching goal of ViREMiCS is to accelerate the translation of vaccine and therapeutics through the development of molecular correlates of safety and efficacy. To this end, ViREMiCS collaborates with academia and industry to facilitate vaccine development at the early clinical development stage. Current projects include clinical trials with vaccines or therapeutics against viral pathogens, including Dengue, Zika, and other acute viral diseases.
Our approach interfaces adaptive experimental and clinical trial design with detailed virological and immunological measurements as well as comprehensive transcriptomics and metabolomics profiling of pre-clinical and clinical specimens. We have amassed a database of molecular correlates of live attenuated vaccine immunogenicity and safety and will expand this database to include other forms of vaccines as well as antiviral therapeutic antibodies as an immediate priority but will also expand our approach to include small molecules antiviral therapeutics. We will also define, where possible, the correlates that play a mechanistic and functional role in mediating the desired vaccination or therapeutic outcome. With molecular correlates of safety and protection, we hope to contribute to an evidence-based and streamlined approach to selecting vaccines and therapeutics for further clinical development.
Key Publications
Chan CYY, Chan KR, Chua CJH, Hazirah S, Ghosh S, Ooi EE, Low JG. (2017) Early molecular correlates of adverse events following yellow fever vaccination. JCI insight, 2(19).
Chan KR, Wang X, Saron WA, Gan ES, Tan HC, Mok DL, Zhang SL, Lee YH, Liang C, Wijaya L, Ghosh S, Cheung YB, Tannenbaum SR, Abraham SN, St John AL, Low JG, Ooi EE (2016). Cross-reactive antibodies enhance live attenuated virus infection for increased immunogenicity. Nat Microbiol, 1:16164.
Low JG*, Sung C*, Wijaya L*, Wei Y, Rathore AP, Watanabe S, Tan BH, Toh L, Chua LT, Hou Y, Chow A, Howe S, Chan WK, Tan KH, Chung JS, Cherng BP, Lye DC, Tambyah PA, Ng LC, Connolly J, Hibberd M, Leo YS, Cheung YB, Ooi EE*, Vasudevan SG (2014). Efficacy and safety of celgosivir, an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, in dengue fever patients evaluated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled proof-of-concept clinical trial. Lancet Infect Dis, 14:706-15. *Equal contribution.
