Virology

Biography

Biography: Farshad Guirakhoo

Abstract

Viral infections account for 15 million deaths per year, one-third of all mortalities worldwide. The most effective medical approach to combat viral diseases and reduce deaths is vaccinations, which have less adverse side effects than drugs while inducing longer lasting protection from reinfection. Live attenuated, inactivated, or subunit vaccine approaches have been successfully utilized to combat mortalities caused by infectious diseases such as yellow fever, varicella, measles, mumps, rubella, influenza, smallpox, polio, rabies, hepatitis A and B, and human papillomavirus. Viruses themselves have also been used as vectors (either replication competent or replication deficient) for development of vaccines against both infectious and non-infectious diseases. The most important factor in the construction of effective viral vectors is finding the right balance between safety and immunogenicity. Although live viral vaccine vectors are highly efficacious, there is also a greater potential risk involved with their broader usage because they are replication-competent. Vaccines based on replication-incompetent viruses are perceived to be safer but there is not yet any vaccine on the market for human use. In this talk, characteristics of both replication-deficient and replication-competent viral vectors and barriers for their developments will be discussed. The talk will specifically focus on a few vector examples that have either generated marketed products or have successfully completed their phase 3 efficacy trials.