A UEA graduate has played a key role in the development of Oxford University’s highly effective coronavirus vaccine.
Professor Sarah Gilbert studied at the University of Anglia from 1980 to 1983, graduating with a degree (BSc) in Biological Science.
Fast forward almost four decades and Prof Gilbert has led the team of Oxford scientists whose vaccine has offered fresh hope in the fight against coronavirus.
Oxford and AstraZeneca’s jab provides around 70pc protection, but it is thought amending the dose could make it 90pc effective.
The government has already pre-ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine which, unlike Pfizer and Moderna’s promising candidates, is relatively cheap and can be stored at fridge temperature.
But were it not for a decision made in the 1980s, Prof Gilbert, now professor of vaccinology at Oxford, may not have found herself at the centre of a worldwide effort to find the remedy for a deadly virus.
Midway through studying for her PhD at the University of Hull, she almost opted to pursue other interests having discovered the discipline’s potential to be restrictive did not necessarily suit her.
Earlier this year, Prof Gilbert told BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Life Scientific’ programme: “There are some scientists who will happily work more or less on their own on one subject for a very long time.
“That’s not the way I like to work. I like to try to take into account ideas from lots of different areas.
“I did consider leaving science at that point and doing something different.”
She did, however, end up achieving her doctorate and went on to become a specialist in making and testing malaria and influenza vaccines.
In April of this year, Prof Gilbert’s Oxford team was among the first in the world to start human trials with a view to developing an effective Covid-19 vaccine.
Their efforts couldn’t help but attract national and, subsequently, worldwide attention, after becoming one of only two UK vaccine projects to receive millions of pounds in government funding.
If approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the coming weeks, Oxford’s jab looks set to play an integral role in the vaccination programme at home, and potentially abroad.
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