a) Ex vivo human tissue studies. We have established excellence (20+ years) in accessing research populations, using ICH-GCP standards, to obtain tissue for ex vivo research e.g. bronchoalveolar lavage, nasal and gastrointestinal mucosal biopsies as well as post-mortem tissues. We will expand this capacity to lead in the characterisation of pathogenesis processes by spatial biology.

b) Controlled Human Infection Model (CHIM) studies. We have pioneered the development, application and governance of this method for bacterial infection in Africa, both locally and as leading members of the HIC-VAC consortium and the AVAREF advisory group. We aim to expand to add invasive non-typhoidal salmonella and BCG to our portfolio soon, as we take stock of 7 years of progress and plan a pathogen-focused translational strategy in Infection.

c) GMP-like materials. Supply chain limitations of GMP-like materials for CHIM studies have caused us to address the inequity of all CHIM GMP-like reagents being produced in high-income countries. We have addressed the facility, capacity, provenance, and governance issues of GMP-like production for the pneumococcal challenge and plan to develop this activity as pathogen-specific projects include CHIM in their translational strategy.