Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading infectious causes of death globally claiming ~1.5 million lives per year. The only licensed TB vaccine, Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG), which is used to prevent TB in children, fails to protect against pulmonary TB in adults. Despite extensive vaccine development efforts for a century, most TB vaccine candidates have not shown superior efficacy over BCG, and the development of BCG-replacement vaccines remains crucial. To achieve this goal, innovative approaches in vaccine design, composition and delivery are needed. In this seminar I will present an overview of my research program aimed at developing and evaluating new TB vaccine candidates.

Andreas Kupz is an associate professor and NHMRC Investigator and leads the Tuberculosis Vaccinology Group at the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine at James Cook University. Andreas Kupzstudied biology at Humboldt-University in Berlin and completed a PhD in microbiology and immunology at the University of Melbourne. He performed his postdoctoral training at the Max-Planck Institute for Infection Biology. His research focuses on interactions between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the host immune system and their implications for the development of new TB vaccines, including in the context of immunosuppression. Andreas Kupz is Senior Fellow of the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald in the winter term 2024/25.

Moderation: Professorin Dr. Anca Dorhoi