We are excited to announce that IMPRINT has awarded four Progression Grants to members whose projects aim to deepen mechanistic insights into the immune responses of the mother/infant dyad in the context of vaccination and help understand transplacental antibody in unprecedented depth. This research seeks to build on existing datasets and clinical trials already conducted by the IMPRINT network. The projects will run until August 2025 and are funded with up to £100.000 each.

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The following projects have been selected:

Dr Andrew Armitage (University of Oxford): Maternal iron and neonatal immunity - determinants of placental antibody transfer in pregnant women on the Thai-Myanmar border after vaccination and iron supplementation

Dr Anja Saso (The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine): Using a systems serology approach to understand the persistence, quantity and quality of vaccine-induced maternal antibody responses and their impact on the infant’s immune response to childhood vaccines

Prof. Kirsty Le Doare (St. George’s University of London): Longitudinal Assessment of B and T Cell Immune Responses and Antibody Development to Pertussis Antigens in HIV-Positive Ugandan Pregnant Women Following Tdap Vaccination

Dr Shadia Khandaker (University of Liverpool): Linking IgG Fc Glycosylation with Functional Insights and Placental Transfer Mechanisms to Explain Group B Streptococcal Antibody Diversity

Congratulations to all four awardees!

For more details on the projects as well as on all other projects funded by IMPRINT please visit our projects page.

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