[VMD Membership Roster] [VMD Meeting Rosters]

The Vaccines against Microbial Diseases [VMD] Study Section reviews applications regarding the immune responses against pathogens other than HIV and the development of safe and effective vaccines against these pathogens. The science reviewed involves multiple approaches, namely immunological, molecular biological, biochemical, bioinformatic, genetic, structural biological, nano-technological, computational biological, and microarray technological. Specific areas covered by VMD are:

• Immunological characterization: antibody neutralization, B and T lymphocyte immune response; dendritic cell, mast cell and macrophages functions; mucosal immunity; cytokine and chemokine function; Fc receptors, Toll-like receptors, CD40 ligand; MHC and HLA molecules.
• Vaccine against various pathogens: gram positive, gram negative and other groups of bacteria; DNA, RNA viruses; parasites and fungi; bacterial toxins; subviral agents such as prions.
• Pathogenic components: identification of pathogenic components and polymorphisms; structure analysis; modification of pathogenic components; enhancement of antigenicity of pathogenic components.
• Vaccine development: adjuvants, conjugates, immunomodulators, platforms, DNA vaccine, peptide and protein vaccine, subunit vaccine, live-attenuated vaccine, plant based vaccine, optimization of vaccine delivery using vectors, plasmids and virus-like particles, nanoparticles, needle or needleless technology.
• Animal models and humans: small and large animal models; non-human primates; studies using pre-existing human samples; human pre-clinical and clinical assessment of protective immune response; evaluation of immunogenicity, protection, efficacy and safety; improvement of safety of existing vaccine.

Study sections with the most closely related areas of science listed in rank order are:

Immunity and Host Defense [IHD] 
Innate Immunity and Inflammation [III] 
Transplantation, Tolerance, and Tumor Immunology [TTT] 
Host Interactions with Bacterial Pathogens Study Section [HIBP] 
Pathogenic Eukaryotes Study Section [PTHE]