A new cutting-edge partnership will accelerate efforts to develop a vaccine against Strep A, a major global health challenge.

The collaboration between Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the research arm of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Initiative for Vaccines and Immunity (NIVI), the NIVI Research Center, will bring together experts across stem cell medicine and infectious diseases to help better understand how Strep A bacteria and the immune system interact in the respiratory tract.

Strep A infection affects about 800 million people worldwide each year and causes more than 640,000 deaths. It commonly leads to sore throat, scarlet fever, and skin infections, but can also result in serious complications such as sepsis, acute rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease and kidney disease.

How the project will advance a Strep A vaccine

The USD $500,000 project, over 18 months, will be led by MCRI Dr Hannah Frost and MCRI Dr Rhiannon Werder. They will harness MCRI Professor Andrew Steer’s and Dr Josh Osowicki’s Strep A human challenge model, a platform to evaluate new vaccine candidates and therapeutics, alongside Dr Werder’s stem cell-derived lung models, to identify which parts of the bacteria are essential for establishing infection.

Dr Frost said by gaining greater insight into the biology of an infection, the team was laying the groundwork for a future Strep A vaccine.

“There is currently no vaccine to prevent Strep A, and treatment relies mainly on antibiotics,” she said. “Under this partnership, we can bring our teams together to fast-track efforts to address this unmet global public health need for a safe and effective Strep A vaccine.”

Image: Dr Hannah Frost

What role will the Strep A human challenge model play?

Dr Osowicki said the human challenge model provided a unique opportunity to focus on the earliest interactions between Strep A and the human immune system in the upper airway before an infection fully develops.

“Virtually everyone has had strep throat as a child or young adult,” he said. “Our participants have all the same symptoms and signs you can remember, like sore throat, fever, and swollen glands. When we learn how to stop their Strep A infections, we’ll know how to reduce the global burden of Strep A diseases.”

Image: Dr Josh Osowicki 

Using stem cell medicine to explore immune responses

Dr Werder, also an Associate Investigator at the Melbourne node of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW, said her stem cell-derived lung models would further help uncover how the body mounts its immune responses against Strep A infection.

“By combining our stem-cell models with the human challenge model, we have an unprecedented opportunity to watch the earliest moments of infection unfold,” she said. “Those first interactions between the bacteria and the airway are where vaccine targets are likely to be found.

Image: Dr Rhiannon Werder

“Using samples collected from this human challenge platform, we can map, in unprecedented detail, the real-time interplay between the immune system and the invading bacteria. These insights are expected to pinpoint bacterial genes and proteins that drive disease, leading to potential targets for future vaccine development.”

Image: Professor Andrew Steer

Researchers from the University of Melbourne and the University of Binghamton will also contribute to the project.

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About Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) is one of the world’s top three child health research institutes, dedicated to improving the health of children and adolescents in Australia and around the world. In 2026 MCRI celebrates its 40th anniversary, marking four decades of transforming child health through research, discovery and innovation. Its breakthroughs have improved diagnosis, informed global vaccine strategies, advanced precision medicine, and continue to redefine what’s possible for sick children. MCRI is one of the only research institutes in Australia to offer genetic testing to help families find answers for children with previously undiagnosed conditions.

Funding

The project is supported by the research arm of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Initiative for Vaccines and Immunity (NIVI), the NIVI Research Center.