Guys, how do you invent a vaccine? Or even wilder, how do you invent a vaccine during your PhD?! In a new episode of Hard Drugs, we talked to someone who did just that: @kat-a-collins.bsky.social! Plus: • Why did the first malaria vaccine take so long? • Could we make better vaccines today?

I'm really excited about the >$140 million Strep A Vaccine Fund we're launching today. I think the basic case here is a great recipe for impact ↓ bsky.app/profile/kat...

Today, Coefficient Giving is launching the Strep A Vaccine Fund, a multi-donor initiative to accelerate vaccine development against one of the world's most neglected infectious diseases relative to its scale. Strep A kills ~639,000 people a year. There is no vaccine. I think that can change 🧵

Read our May issue! Featuring spatial repellents for malaria control in refugee camps, Group B Streptococcus vaccination in pregnant women, and Nirsevimab prophylaxis for RSV in Galician infants bit.ly/41PlhSs

Main goal of podcast achieved ✅ Hope you enjoy the new episode! open.spotify.com/episode/792E...

Some news: Open Philanthropy is now Coefficient Giving! Our mission is unchanged but the new name reflects our growing work with other donors to multiply the impact of their giving. 🧵 on our work to make philanthropy a more efficient "market" and plans going forward:

More on our big news today: bsky.app/profile/alb...

Hiring a PO to help us give away tens of millions more in vaccine R&D over the coming years, in particular to make progress on strep A. Kills 600k/y but should be fixable with creativity... Looking for an experienced scientist, but not necessarily in strep A: jobs.ashbyhq.com/openphilanth...

🚨 Hiring scientists to help give away money 🚨 At Open Philanthropy, we have given away $600M in biomedical research since 2016. Now, we're expanding the team to do more. We're hiring: * Up to 3 Senior Program Associates * Program Officer in strep A Remote OK, salaries in links! (Thread below)

Our most practical episode yet for people who want to dabble in biotech As of 2022, you can hallucinate protein structures using AI similar to Midjourney (RFDiffusion) -> create amino acid strings for them (ProteinMPNN) -> validate with AlphaFold Biology becomes engineering…

Hope for #Strep A #vaccine ... | #Streptococcus | #StrepA | #bacteria | #infection | #immunity | By @sheffielduni.bsky.social via @sciencex.bsky.social

The nasal flu vaccine reduces the risk of strep A infections, a study in the UK suggests, contrary to the claims of antivaxxers: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nasal-flu-vaccine-may-help-reduce-cases-of-group-a-strep

Over the weekend I published an essay series on a question I've been thinking about for a while: What does AI progress mean for medical progress? It starts with this 500 word piece. If you want more after that, there are 10,000 words of forking paths: blog.jacobtrefethen.com/ai-progress-...

So excited to share what Saloni and I have been up to. Medical innovation is not inevitable. Sometimes breakthroughs take 40 years, thousands of people building on each others’ work & participating in clinical trials. Check out ep 1, and subscribe for more Hard Drugs! harddrugs.worksinprogress.co

NEW EPISODE of HARD DRUGS! “5 hours is too long!” some of you said after our first episode. So our second episode is 20 minutes 🤭 @jacobtref.bsky.social and I explore the world of proteins: how proteins fold into complex shapes, why complexity matters, how crowded and dynamic a cell really is.

LAUNCH DAY 🚀 Today I’m launching a new podcast, Hard Drugs, with Jacob Trefethen (@jacobtref.bsky.social) Our first episode is about lenacapavir — a new HIV drug that blocks infections with an efficacy rate of nearly 100%, and which could completely change the fight against HIV worldwide.

#Lenacapavir: The miracle drug that could end #AIDS. The new #HIV drug blocks infections with an efficacy rate of nearly 100%. The "Hard Drugs" podcast w/ @scientificdiscovery.dev @jacobtref.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/4nIj...

Dr A Beaton outlines translational research in Uganda turning screening evidence into a national program (ANUDU) for primary health screening and registry. She shows successful screening of 30k patients, and then of those confirmed 72% successful adherence to treatment w/ registry. #LISSSD25 #IDsky

Dr K Brown speaks about developing and validating an AI model for interpretation of non expert handheld parasternal images for DX of MR for RHD which had good sens (0.82) & spec (0.82) for LMIC setting. Also implementation study found it highly acceptable for staff & patients. #LISSSD25 #RHD

Prof de Silva & Dr Keeley speak on Strep A epi & immunity in the Gambia. 🗝️ Hyperendemicity of Strep A 🗝️ Index infections not explained by household contacts 🗝️ Early life immunity develops <2 y/o 🗝️ Ab response to carriage & infection 🗝️ ?protective immunity from SLO, SpyAD, SpyCEP #LISSSD25 #IDsky

A/Prof Laurens Manning presents a human challenge study looking to define penicillin MIC to prevent strep throat. 💊 ~9ng/mL penicillin (lower then standard threshold 20ng/mL) prevents clinical strep throat and systemic inflammation as measured by CRP. #LISSSD25 #idsky

More cool penicillin data - A/Prof J Bennett presents NZ data for subcut BenPen for RHD/ARF 💉 Penicillin >20ng/mL for 56d & >10ng/mL for 70d 💉 Worked better in ⬆️ BMI 💉 No breakthrough infections 😊 Highly accepted - only 1 pt switched back to IM BenPen #LISSSD25 #idsky

Dr J Hart & team on validating clinical decision rules for strep throat: 🌹 Fiji rule (sore throat & neither coryza or hoarseness) is no better than chance. 🚫 No other algorithm tested is any better! Underscores urgent need for POC diagnostics in these settings. #LISSSD25 #idsky

I said no more #LISSSD25 posts but forgot a major highlight! Most sessions started w/ a patient lived experience video, and you can see them all @ lisssd2025.org/patient-stories Looking after patients during thier illnesses is v. stressful so it's great to hear their experiences when recovered.

Prof M Good from Griffith reports some cool unpub phase I vaccine data from two vaccine candidates (J8/S2 & P*17/S2) 💉 Both protect in 🐁 💉 Induce ab response in🚶‍♂️ 💉 Wanes after 6 months, BUT 💉 Opsonic killing increases after 6m #LISSSD25 #strepA #idsky

PhD cand. J Iwasaki talks about mechanism behind strep throat recurrence. 👅 ~15% strep throat relapse 👅 Relapse strains can persist in ⬆️ [pen] 👅 Intracellular persistence in strep intracell. comm. [SIC] 👅 SICs are L-switch'd to lack cell wall hence recur post Pen Rx #LISSSD25 #clinmicro

I wrote a new piece with Rafael Dib on prioritisation in science funding. How should a grantmaker aiming at health impact pick areas to fund, when science is so hard to predict? We argue you can get pretty far, because today's spending is weird: blog.jacobtrefethen.com/vaccines/

Another AUROC: L Carlton presents a possible ARF biomarker id'd from a series of bead array exp using START cohort samples. Most accurate candidate TRAFIP with AUROC 0.79 solo or upto 0.845 in combo w/ other biomarkers. Coming to a revised-revised Jones criteria? #LISSSD25 #idsky

Enjoying the new GiveWell podcast so far. Two episodes in: givewell.transistor.fm

New blog post going into @seqh2o.bsky.social and team’s inventions — which add the right amount of chlorine to disinfect water at places people collect it — and why we decided to support the work in 2020: www.openphilanthropy.org/research/how...

This #IWD2025 we highlight the critical role women play in the fight against malaria #WomensDay2025 #WomenInMalaria #EndMalaria #STEMInclusion #EquitableLeadership

On this #InternationalWomensDay, we honour the brilliant women researchers at @lshtm.bsky.social and @mrcunitgambia.bsky.social We celebrate their contributions to global health, paving the way for a healthier future. Here’s to empowering women in science, today and every day! 👩‍🔬💪 #IWD2025

#StandUpForScience2025 👩🏾‍🔬👩🏼‍🔬👩🏾‍🔬👩🏻‍🔬

On #IDWGS we celebrate women driving malaria research—from fieldwork to policy, diagnostics to drug discovery! Dr Dorothy Achu (WHO, Africa region) highlights how dynamic the fight against malaria is - Don’t miss her plenary talk at the WiM conference! Sketch by Sophia Hernandez & Thorey Jonsdottir

📢The second Plenary Speaker at the WiM Conference is Professor Dyann Wirth - a leader in 🧬 molecular parasitology and 🌍 global health research! Register now & join us virtually 19-20 March for a conference packed with exciting research! 🎨Sketch by Thorey and Sophia

🎉🌟Excellent line up for the 2nd Women in Malaria conference! … detailed programme now available (lnkd.in/dv4Nyim6) ‼️Early bird registration closing in a few days! 📋For conference registration and fee waiver donations/applications visit the website: lnkd.in/daAybPkG

Mathematical models are and have been incredibly useful in our fight to defeat #malaria— let’s collectively ensure they remain so! Check out our new article from @jalinegerardin.bsky.social and I on "How can modelling responsibly inform decision-making in malaria?" journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

AHADI works with countries to solve their data and analytics needs. We are intentional about strengthening individual and institutional capacity. Join us on the journey to self-reliance 👉🏾 https://buff.ly/4hBuraO #SelfRelianceInHealthAnalytics #AHADILaunch

One of my party facts is that according to polls, Americans believe foreign aid is about 25% of the federal budget and on average that it *should* be about 10%. The actual number is less than 1%. Foreign aid has long been a boogey man of the right, so it's not surprising they're vilifying it now.

Just 2 weeks left for early bird registration for the online Women in malaria conference! Attendance is open to everyone! #malaria #womeninmalaria

Registration for the 2nd WiM online conference is now OPEN, everyone can register: womeninmalaria.es/wim-conferen... There is a fee waiver application for LMICs & also an option to buy fee waivers for others during the registration process 🧫🧬🦟 Please share!

📢Reminder that the early bird registration for the 2nd Women in Malaria Online conference is closing Feb 14, 2025 (50 USD)! Fee waiver applications are available for LMICs & you can also buy fee waivers for others. Register/apply here: womeninmalaria.es/wim-conferen... Please re-share 💛

#Measles infections rising globally, with 20% increase in cases since 2022, according to new WHO figures Ben Kasstan-Dabush explains family-friendly #vaccine initiatives may be key to tackling surge as economy & deprivation link to lower vaccine rates. #PublicHealth www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/n...

Our recent report on #AntimicrobialResistance & the need for improved surveillance, testing, infection control, #antibiotic stewardship, funding & global commitments for #AMR solutions in humanitarian settings. #WAAW2024 #MedSky msfaccess.org/broken-lens-...