Project: Understanding immunity towards seasonal influenza vaccines
Kedzierska group
Annual influenza vaccinations provide the most effective strategy to blunt the impact of seasonal influenza infections and protect from severe disease. However, the efficacy of influenza vaccines varies from year to year and between individuals. Our recent study (Koutsakos M et al, Science Translational Medicine, 2018) dissected immunity towards seasonal influenza vaccine in healthy adults and identified that T follicular helper cells, antibody-secreting cells and memory B cells are associated with successful influenza vaccination. The current project provides exciting opportunities to understand immunity to seasonal influenza vaccines in individuals at high risk of severe disease, specifically the elderly and immunosuppressed patients.
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Kedzierska group
2 vacancies
The Kedzierska group has a strong international profile in human immunology, with a major focus on universal broadly-protective T cell immunity to seasonal, pandemic and avian influenza viruses. The main goals are to identify key correlates of severe and fatal influenza disease in high-risk groups, and to understand mechanisms underlying generation of optimal immunity to influenza viruses in young children, adults, the elderly, pregnant women, hospitalised patients and Indigenous Australians. Our studies intend to improve vaccine and therapeutic designs to protect against severe influenza, with possible applications to other infectious diseases and tumours.
Kedzierska group Current Projects
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Generation of protective immunity against severe influenza disease in Indigenous populations
Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Understanding immunity towards seasonal influenza vaccines
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Defining the reactogenic properties of influenza vaccines
Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Understanding the evolution of influenza viruses by herd and host immunity
Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
Research degrees at the Doherty Institute are administered by the University of Melbourne.