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I select the given presentation at the session: XX
About the session name, PS: http://www.bitlifesciences.com/ica2010/Schedule.asp
1) Title of speech
The Evaluation of Antibody Responses to Rabies Virus Using Retroviral Pseudotypes and the
Implications for ‘In-Field’ Vaccine Trials
Dr. Edward Wright, Nigel Temperton, Denise Marston, Anthony Fooks, Robin Weiss
2) Abstract (within 300 words)
Using retroviral pseudotype technology we have recently established assays for the characterisation of neutralising antibodies against rabies virus. Neutralisation assays using sera from vaccinated animals and pseudotyped Challenge Virus Standard-11 detected positive and negative samples with 100% specificity and sensitivity, and titres strongly correlated with the Office International des Epizooties FAVN test (R 2 = 0.89).
We have also studied the cross-neutralising potency of current rabies vaccines against other lyssavirus genotypes. Compared to conventional live virus assays, studying neutralisation with pseudotypes removes the need for high containment facilities and large sample volumes, therefore increasing the number of laboratories that can undertake active surveillance. Further to this we have adapted the assay so that neutralisation tests can be conducted using luciferase, enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP) or lacZ as the pseudotype reporter gene. These facets combined make our rabies pseudotype assay an attractive option for use in large vaccine campaigns where it would be advantageous to determine serum neutralising titres in situ . The assay will allow a far greater number of laboratories worldwide, who are presently unable to run live virus test, to be more directly involved in front-line vaccine and antiviral therapy trials, especially in resource limited countries where rabies is a major burden. We aim to develop kits for the distribution of these assays that could be selected with a choice of viral pseudotype and reporter gene.
3) Biography (within 300 words)
Edward Wright has been a Research Fellow at University College London (UK) since 2005. He graduated from Edinburgh University (UK) in 1999 with a degree in Virology and went on to study the regulation of Human Cytomegalovirus gene expression for 4 years at Cambridge University (UK) during his PhD. Between finishing in Cambridge and starting at UCL he spent 2 years at the Uganda
Virus Research Institute (Entebbe, Uganda) working for the UK Medical Research Council investigating the effect Hepatitis G Virus and HIV co-receptors have on HIV disease progression.
Now at UCL he is working in Professor Robin Weiss’ group conducting research into the role Duffy
Antigen for Chemokine Receptor plays in HIV/AIDS susceptibility and the use of retroviral pseudotypes to study humoral responses to highly pathogenic viruses and how these can be used to map neutralising epitopes that could be used to aid novel vaccine design.
4) Your contact info
March 24-26, 2010 Beijing.China

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Dr. Edward Wright
Research Fellow
University College London
UK
Tel:
Fax:
Email: xxxxx@ ucl.ac.uk
March 24-26, 2010 Beijing.China