Science and Technology Group
A Special Invitation to Members of Our Group
Members are invited to a meeting of the Economics and Current Affairs Group on 22nd November to hear Prof Sir Brian Hoskins talk about environmental sustainability. Read More.
Next Meeting: Dr Gary McLean, Towards vaccine for the Common Cold?
November 28, 2018
The Common Cold is both the worlds most widespread infectious disease. However, things may be about to change. An Austrian scientist has just registered a patent for a common cold vaccine. Apollo Theraputics, a joint venture backed by AstraZeneca, GSK and Johnson & Johnson is funding research in Imperial College.
The virus causes untold economic damage and considerable human misery. In the more vulnerable of those afflicted, it may be life-threatening. A successful treatment would be a huge boon to mankind. However, there have been so many false dawns that workers in the field are understandably reticent about the progress they are making. Nobody wants to be a modern-day Common Cold Research Unit, which opened with a fanfare in 1946, promising to find a cure in short order but was shut ignominiously forty-four years later, having made negligible progress towards a cure.
Our speaker will reveal why it is so difficult to develop a vaccine for the Common Cold whereas vaccines have been so successful against so many other virus diseases. He will assess the chances of a viable treatment being developed in our lifetimes, or those of our children.
Gary McLean is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Airway Disease Infection Section of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College, London.
He has published extensively on blood cell development, immune responses to human viral pathogens and molecular studies of antibody generation. Currently, his research investigates immune responses to rhinovirus infections and the role of microvesicles in the spread of respiratory viral infections more generally.
| Month | Day of Month | Speaker | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 21st | Dr James Luke | Recent Developments in Artificial Intelligence |
| March | 14th | Mr Simon Wright | Gene Editing and Intellectual Property Law |
| April | 25th | Prof David Howey | Energy storage technologies - batteries and beyond |
| May | 23rd | Dr Mohammed Al-Ubaydli | Patient-Centred Medicine |
| June | 12th | Dr Vinton G Cerf | Google and the Internet |
| September | 18th | Mr Romain Kidd | 3D Printing |
| October | 15th | Prof Paul Newman | Mobile Autonomy |
| October | 28th | Dr Gary McLean | Towards a Vaccine for the Common Cold |
2019 Programme
Provisional dates for 2019 are as follows:
| Month | Day of Month | Speaker | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 12th | Dr David Kingman | Small Modular Fusion. |
| March | 12th | Kevlin Henney | Software Failure |
| April | 2nd | ||
| May | 7th | ||
| June | 4th | ||
| September | 11th | ||
| October | 1st | ||
| November | 5th |