research

vaccine & immunisation research group (VIRGo)

summary

VIRGo is conducted in three complementary programs: clinical trials, epidemiology and mathematical modelling.  Our work in these programs provides policy support regarding best use of vaccines in national schedules, in pandemic influenza preparedness and counter-measures, and in vaccine safety. We have an extensive network of collaborators in multiple discipline areas including immunology, virology and bacteriology, mathematics, biostatistics and psychology.

Vaccine clinical trials: exploring effectiveness, antibody responses, and safety of new vaccines in standard or novel schedules.

Population epidemiology and virus discovery: assessing the incidence and population susceptibility of potentially vaccine preventable diseases, along with social and environmental factors underpinning the spread of infection in the population, and in partnership with molecular virologists searching for as yet undescribed viruses that cause common respiratory illnesses.

Mathematical modelling: studying the transmission dynamics and consequences of  vaccine-preventable disease. Projects range from within-host studies to population-level simulations of transmission.

group leader(s)

Terry NolanProfessor Terry Nolan
Melbourne School of Population Health
University of Melbourne
Level 5, 207 Bouverie Street
The University of Melbourne

T  +61 3 8344 9350
F  +61 3 9347 6929
E  t.nolan@unimelb.edu.au

group leader biography

current research projects

Project 1: Newborn pertussis and meningococcal vaccine trials

Infants under the age of 3 months have the highest risk of infection and death from pertussis (whooping cough). We are studying newborn vaccination with acellular pertussis vaccine in the hope that it will prove to be a safe and effective way to protect young infants from exposure to pertussis before they have commenced the current immunisation schedule. Meningococcal C disease has been nearly eradicated due to vaccination. Meningococcal B disease remains the last major obstacle to control meningitis. We are trialling different novel vaccine candidates in adolescents and children that show considerable promise.

Project 2: The sociological nature of infectious disease transmission

While the simplest models of infectious disease assume all members of a given population mix equally with each other, it is clear that the risk of disease transmission often relates closely to the heterogeneous, non-random ways in which we interact. We have developed contact diary tools that capture social interactions in the locations in which they occur. We will be using these methods to look for differences between the scope and structure of human social networks in very different areas of metropolitan Melbourne, with particular attention to the influences of household and neighbourhood disadvantage on social connectedness.

Project 3: Understanding the determinants of pertussis spread to improve herd protection of vulnerable infants

This project aims to improve vaccine control strategies for pertussis, in order to prevent transmission to vulnerable infants. Using national surveillance data and information on pertussis vaccine scheduling, mathematical models describe the transmission of pertussis in our population. Following model validation, scenario analyses compare effectiveness of a range of immunisation schedules presently being considered by Australian policy makers including parental immunization to protect newborns.

Project 4: Within-host modelling of influenza

This project is building realistic models of the time-evolution of influenza infection within the human host and quantitative methods to measure viral transmissibility. In collaboration with the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, and Prof Peter Doherty's NHMRC Research Program in Influenza, we are using mathematical models of infection applied to experimental data, gaining insight into the virologic and immunologic determinants of viral growth, clearance and transmission.

Project 5: Demographics and infectious diseases 

As birth rates in developed and newly industrialising countries fall, so too do the number of households containing children, with implications for infection spread in families. We are studying this influence on the risk of common childhood infections, and the length of time that infant vaccines will protect. This ARC-funded collaboration with Monash University uses simulation models of populations of households that incorporate realistic demographic changes, and overlays models of infection transmission. Modelling dynamic demographics and immunity in combination will produce an innovative decision-support tool for optimising vaccine scheduling in diverse populations.

team members

  • Janet Briggs - Research Assistant
  • Clare Brophy - Study Co-ordinator
  • Rowena Christiansen - STUDY DOCTOR
  • Naomi Clarke - STUDY DOCTOR
  • Mathew Dafilis - Research Officer
  • Jenny Davey - Study Doctor
  • Michelle Denahy - Administrative Assistant
  • Alice Holloway - Research Assistant
  • Lana Horng - Study Doctor
  • Marita Kefford - Research Manager
  • Sylvie Li-Yim - Study Doctor
  • John Mathews - HONORARY RESEARCH FELLOW
  • James Mccaw - HONORARY RESEARCH FELLOW
  • Bernie Mccudden - PHLEBOTOMIST
  • Annmarie Mcevoy - Research Assistant
  • Jodie Mcvernon - HONORARY FELLOW - MANAGER
  • Paula Nathan - Research Assistant
  • Jacinta O'Keefe - Research Assistant
  • Teresa Ottobre - Administrative Assistant
  • Timothy Penno - STUDY DOCTOR
  • Mairead Phelan - Research Assistant
  • Nicole Rose - Study Doctor
  • Jane Ryrie - Research Assistant
  • Charan Sandhu - Phlebotomist
  • Barbra Sherry - Phlebotomist
  • Maryanne Skeljo - Senior Research Fellow
  • Jacinta Sonego - Research Assistant
  • Judith Spotswood - Phlebotomist
  • Loretta Thorn - SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW
  • Sharon Trevorrow - Assistant Study Coordinator
  • Steve Vander Hoorn - PhD Student (UoM PopHealth)
  • Marie West - Research Assistant

publications

  • Booy R., Richmond P., Nolan T., McVernon J., Marshall H., Nissen M., Reynolds G., Ziegler JB., Heron L., Lambert S., Caubet M., Mesaros N., Boutriau D. IMMEDIATE AND LONGER TERM IMMUNOGENICITY OF A SINGLE DOSE OF THE COMBINED HAEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE TYPE B-NEISSERIA MENINGITIDIS SEROGROUP C-TETANUS TOXOID CONJUGATE VACCINE IN PRIMED TODDLERS 12 TO 18 MONTHS OF AGE. PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE JOURNAL 30 (4) : 340 - 342(2011) PubMed
  • Bryant KA., Marshall GS., Marchant CD., Pavia-Ruiz N., Nolan T., Rinderknecht S., Blatter M., Aris E., Lestrate P., Boutriau D., Friedland LR., Miller JM. Immunogenicity and Safety of H influenzae Type b-N meningitidis C/Y Conjugate Vaccine in Infants. PEDIATRICS 127 (6) (2011) PubMed
  • Kavanagh AM., Bentley RJ., Mason KE., McVernon J., Petrony S., Fielding J., LaMontagne AD., Studdert DM. Sources, perceived usefulness and understanding of information disseminated to families who entered home quarantine during the H1N1 pandemic in Victoria, Australia: a cross-sectional study. BMC INFECTIOUS DISEASES 11 (2011) PubMed
  • Mccaw JM., Arinaminpathy N., Hurt AC., McVernon J., McLean AR. A Mathematical Framework for Estimating Pathogen Transmission Fitness and Inoculum Size Using Data from a Competitive Mixtures Animal Model. PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY 7 (4) (2011) PubMed
  • Mccaw JM., Moss R., McVernon J. A decision support tool for evaluating the impact of a diagnostic-capacity and antiviral-delivery constrained intervention strategy on an influenza pandemic. INFLUENZA AND OTHER RESPIRATORY VIRUSES : 212 - 215(2011)
  • McVernon J., Laurie K., Barr I., Kelso A., Skeljo M., Nolan T. Absence of cross-reactive antibodies to influenza A (H1N1) 2009 before and after vaccination with 2009 Southern Hemisphere seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine in children aged 6 months-9 years: a prospective study. INFLUENZA AND OTHER RESPIRATORY VIRUSES 5 (1) : 7 - 11(2011) PubMed
  • McVernon J., Laurie K., Nolan T., Owen R., Irving D., Capper H., Hyland C., Faddy H., Carolan L., Barr I., Kelso A. Seroprevalence of antibody to influenza A(H1N1) 2009 in Australian blood donors - before and after the 2009 influenza season, and prior to the 2010 Southern Hemisphere winter. INFLUENZA AND OTHER RESPIRATORY VIRUSES 5 : 175 - 178(2011) PubMed
  • McVernon J., Nolan T. Panvax (R): a monovalent inactivated unadjuvanted vaccine against pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009. EXPERT REVIEW OF VACCINES 10 (1) : 35 - 43(2011) PubMed
  • Moss R., McCaw JM., McVernon J. Diagnosis and Antiviral Intervention Strategies for Mitigating an Influenza Epidemic. PLOS ONE 6 (2) (2011) PubMed
  • Nolan T., Richmond P., Marshall H., McVernon J., Alexander K., Mesaros N., Aris E., Miller J., Poolman J., Boutriau D. Immunogenicity and Safety of an Investigational Combined Haemophilus influenzae Type B-Neisseria meningitidis Serogroups C and Y-Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine. PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE JOURNAL 30 (3) : 190 - 196(2011) PubMed
  • Paxton GA., Rice J., Davie G., Carapetis JR., Skull SA. East African immigrant children in Australia have poor immunisation coverage. JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH 47 (12) : 888 - 892(2011) PubMed
  • Pearce DC., Pallaghy PK., McCaw JM., McVernon J., Mathews JD. Understanding mortality in the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic in England and Wales. INFLUENZA AND OTHER RESPIRATORY VIRUSES 5 (2) : 89 - 98(2011) PubMed

competitive funding

National Health & Medical Research Council
Australian Research Council
Australian Government Dept of Health and Ageing

collaborations & affiliations

World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne
Department of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne
School of Information Technology, Monash University
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford
Queensland Paediatric Infectious Diseases (QPID) Laboratory and Sir Albert Sakzewski Virus Research Centre, Royal Children's Hospital Brisbane.