VALIDATE 5th Annual Meeting
Registration Closed

The 5th VALIDATE Annual Meeting was held on 7-8 March 2023 at the historic BMA House in London, UK. As always, our Annual Meeting gave our members talks from world-leading scientists in our research field, updates from our funded projects on their cutting-edge research, and the chance to meet members from across the globe.
2023 was the first in-person VALIDATE event since 2019, and it was a pleasure to meet members in person. The Annual Meeting is open to all VALIDATE members, with members from academia, industry, government bodies, and non-governmental agencies all welcome.

The BMA's Memorial fountain built in honour of the medical men and women of the Commonwealth who gave their lives in the Second World War. The fountain is guarded by Greek style statues representing Sacrifice, Cure, Prevention and Aspiration.

The 5th VALIDATE Annual Meeting took place at BMA House, a stunning, Grade II listed building that is home to the British Medical Association and is an inspiring and interesting venue for our event. You can find out more about BMA House and take a virtual tour on the BMA House Website.
Travel Guide
To help members navigate the city during their stay in London, we created this helpful Travel Guide.

Along with keynote talks, research presentations by VALIDATE-funded projects, and time for networking, we held a Poster Session at the Annual Meeting that allowed VALIDATE members to publicise their research. You can find a full list of presenters, and their titles and abstracts, on the Annual Meeting 2023 Poster Page
VALIDATE ECR Workshop: Showcasing Your Science - 6 March 2023
1000 - 1700 Kat Arney & Sarah Hazell, First Create the Media
Following on from the very successful "Storytelling for Scientists" workshop, VALIDATE has once again asked First Create The Media to provide our members with an in-person, full-day interactive workshop that will help build skills and confidence to talk about your research to the audiences that matter.
Find out more about the workshop here.

Day One - 7 March 2023 - In The Grand Hall - All delegates
0900 - 1000 Closed Network Management Board Meeting
0915 - 1000 Registration and tea/coffee

1000 - 1010 Prof Helen McShane
VALIDATE Director, University of Oxford
A welcome and introduction from our Network Director

1010 - 1030 Mrs Samantha Vermaak
Co-Investigator & Executive Manager, University of Oxford
VALIDATE Update: an update on VALIDATE's activities to date and future plans

1030 - 1050 Dr Nastassja Kriel (VALIDATE Fellow)
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Identifying persister Mycobacterium tuberculosis biosignatures
1050 - 1120 Break

1120 - 1140 Dr Ana Valencia Hernandez
James Cook University, Australia
Evaluation of BCGΔBCG1419c::ESAT6-PE25SS in immunocompetent and immunocompromised mouse models of TB

1140 - 1200 Dr Diane Lee
University of Surrey, UK
Alvacc: A human in vitro alveolus model to study aerogenic TB vaccine binding and translocation
1200 - 1300 Lunch

1300 - 1400 Dr Trinh Thanh Trung,
Vietnam National University
Keynote Address: A step forward to establish a national research network for surveillance of melioidosis in Vietnam

1400 - 1420 Prof Jayne Hope
University of Edinburgh, UK
Investigating the BCG-induced Natural Killer (NK) cell response in cattle and humans

1420 - 1440 Dr Gabriele Pollara
University College London, UK

1440 - 1500 Prof Chiranjay Mukhopadhyay
Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India
1500 - 1530 Break

1530 - 1550 Dr Munyaradzi Musvosvi
University of Cape Town, South Africa
Towards a T cell subset that can control Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

1550 - 1610 Assoc Prof Hao Li
China Agricultural University, China

1610 - 1700 Mrs Samantha Vermaak
VALIDATE Collaboration Clinic: As part of the Annual Meeting, VALIDATE will host a Collaboration Clinic, where delegates can be partnered with new potential collaborators – or use this time to hold in-person meetings with current collaborators also at the VALIDATE meeting.

1700 - 1830 Drinks Reception & Poster Presentations

1830 - 2100 The VALIDATE Team
Gala Dinner - In the Paget Room

Day Two - 8 March 2023 - In The Grand Hall - All delegates
0900 - 0930 - Welcome & tea and coffee

0930 - 1030 Dr Caryn Fenner & Prof Petro Terblanche
Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, South Africa
Keynote Address: mRNA Vaccine Innovation Platform: An Open Science Model Enabling LMICs to Build Capabilities for Pandemic Preparedness and Regional Vaccine Production

1030 - 1050 Dr Cristian Segura Cerda (VALIDATE Fellow)
VALIDATE Fellow, CIATEJ, Mexico
1050 - 1120 Break

1120 - 1140 Assoc Prof Rachel Tanner (VALIDATE Fellow)
VALIDATE Fellow, University of Oxford, UK

1140 - 1200 Dr Laura Sibley
UK Health Security Agency, UK
1200 - 1300 Lunch

1300- 1320 Dr Simon Waddell
University of Sussex, UK
Innovative tools to measure mycobacterial antigen expression in tissue

1320 - 1340 Dr Andy Tran
St George’s, University of London
Testing a novel, self-adjuvanting mucosal vaccine candidate for TB in the mouse model of infection

1340 - 1400 Dr Godwin Kwayke-Nuako
University of Cape Coast, Ghana
1400 - 1430 Break

1430- 1450 Dr Paula Niewold
Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands
Towards a better TB vaccine: understanding improved local immune control by mucosal BCG vaccination

1450 - 1550 Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi PhD
National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine
Keynote Address: Academic Creativity, Strategic Alliances and Diplomacy to Catalyze the Vaccine Sciences in Tropical Medicine
1550 - 1610 Wrap up
1610 End of Meeting
