Sarah Gilbert

Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert is the Said Professorship of Vaccinology at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford. She leads cutting-edge research in viral vectored vaccines, focusing on inducing protective T and B cell responses against emerging pathogens like influenza, Nipah, MERS, and Lassa virus. Her work emphasizes rapid GMP manufacturing and first-in-human clinical trials, notably through collaborations with the Clinical Bio manufacturing Facility and the Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine on the Old Road Campus.

Research Trends: Her recent publications highlight advancements in adenoviral vector vaccines, including safety mechanisms like shear-dependent platelet aggregation in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, Nipah virus prevention via pig models, and rapid vaccine development strategies for outbreak responses. These studies span infectious diseases, immunology, and clinical trial design.

Awards:

• Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE), for services to Science and Public Health

Collaborations and Infrastructure: She works with teams across Oxford University, the Pirbright Institute, NIAID/NIH, the University of Queensland, and institutions in Kenya, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea. Her projects include the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, which saved over 6 million lives globally.