Precision Vaccines Program

Thank you to the incredible panel of researchers who presented at the Immune Development in Early Life Hot Topic Symposium this weekend at Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting .

Their work highlights just how critical and dynamic early immune development is in pediatrics. By continuing to study this window, we can help improve outcomes, better understand how to shape immune responses, and drive new discoveries.

We look forward to continuing the conversation at in Minneapolis, MN, and sharing our next wave of findings in this exciting field.

From left to right: Dr. Xiaobin Wang, Dr. Ofer Levy, Dr. Oluwabunmi Olaloye, Dr. Octavio Ramilo, Dr. Paolo Palma.

Tomorrow, Sunday April 25th, Dr. Ofer Levy will chair the PAS Hot Topic Symposium: “Immune Development in Early Life (IDEAL) shapes vaccine response, respiratory infectious disease and asthma”.

The session will occur from 2:30-4:00 pm in 213 West in the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center. The symposium will feature presentations from leading researchers in the field followed by a Q&A session. We hope you will join us in attending this special session!

We want to take this opportunity to highlight our members and collaborators who are presenting tomorrow, Sunday, 26 April 2026, at .

Marco Sanna will present his Top Abstract in the morning. Dr Ofer Levy will chair a hot topic symposium on advances in immune development in early life with Dr Paolo Palma speaking.

If attending PAS, please feel free to stop by these exciting session!

Members of the PVP team will be attending and presenting at PAS this weekend!

If you are attending, please feel free to stop by our sessions to hear updates on our research, insights, and discoveries!

Dr. Mercy Prabhudas, Program Officer at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) visited us today from Maryland. It was our pleasure to host her at our Precision Vaccines Program space.

Ofer Levy, Donato Amodio, Paolo Palma, David Martino, Kinga Smolen, Kerry McEnaney, Marco Sanna, Asimenia Angelidou, Joann Diray Arce, Annmarie Hoch, Utsa Bhaduri

We are excited to share that Dr. Utsa Bhaduri and Dr. Ofer Levy will present this weekend at ™ hosted by The American Association of Immunologists.

If attending, please feel free to stop by to hear updates on our research, insights, and discoveries!

PVP director, Dr Ofer Levy, was quoted in NBC News by regarding potential changes at vaccine division.

Ophthalmologist is front-runner for next FDA vaccine chief, sources say Dr. Houman Hemmati is among "several" candidates to replace Dr. Vinay Prasad in the role.

We’re excited to share that two members of our program, Dr. Asimenia Angelidou and Dr. Sanya Thomas, will be presenting today, 16 April 2026, at ™ hosted by The American Association of Immunologists!

If attending, please join us in supporting them as they showcase their work and insights!

Members of our Precision Vaccines Program Data Management and Analysis team had a great time at NextGenOmics, Spatial & Data US! Joann Diray Arce, PhD gave a talk on ImmuneVISTA and MultiOMICs in research.

Come visit the PVP at the 2026 World Vaccine Congress! You can find us at booth 550! 💉

At the World Vaccine Congress workshop on adjuvant science; L to R: Precision Vaccines Program Director Ofer Levy; Drs. David Burkhardt (Inimmune), Wolfgang Leitner ( ), Roland Ventura Vaccine Formulation Institute), Adolfo Garcia Sastre (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) & Ishii (The University of Tokyo / UTokyo)

New publication out in JACI Global.

In this supported randomized study, our team examined how two newborn vaccines given in many parts of the world via the Essential Program on Immunization (EPI), Hepatitis B vaccine ( ) and bacille Calmette-Guérin ( ), interact when given in the first week of life. The trial was conducted with partners in The Gambia and Papua New Guinea, bringing together clinical sites and research teams across Africa, Oceania, Europe, North America, and Australia.

What we found: Our results support the immunogenicity of HBV in newborns and examine how the timing of HBV and BCG vaccination may influence early immune responses. These findings help clarify how vaccine scheduling in the first days of life can shape protection against hepatitis B, an important step towards precision vaccines for the very young.

This work reflects a global collaboration spanning institutions and field sites including:

• MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
• PNG Institute of Medical Research
• Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
• Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
• partners across Canada, Australia, the UK, Belgium, and Germany.

We are grateful to the families who participated, the clinical teams in The Gambia and Papua New Guinea, and the many collaborators in the EPIC-HIPC consortium who made this study possible.

Importantly, this work evaluates licensed vaccines already used worldwide and focuses on understanding how newborn immune responses develop, not on experimental vaccine policies.

📄 Read the article here: http://bit.ly/4c1cu4F


London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Precision Vaccines Program

Joann Diray-Arce, Caitlin Syphurs, Tobias Kollmann, Ofer Levy, Peter Richmond, Anita van den Biggelaar, Beate Kampmann, Olubukola Idoko, Al Ozonoff

www.jaci-global.org