Scroll down to explore our current evaluation projects

We partner to develop and optimize new assays and challenge models and support reference and service laboratories.

Find out more about our evaluation technologies by clicking on each project box below.

Assay development

In cases where tools do not exist to identify and quantify relevant immune responses, MVI engages research groups in developing and optimizing immunological assays to improve our ability to develop strong vaccine candidates. 

Challenge models 

Malaria vaccine developers have been fortunate to have access to a human challenge model—known as controlled human malaria infection or CHMI— to evaluate the protective efficacy of pre-erythrocytic vaccines in early clinical trials. To capitalize on these efforts, evaluation of human challenge models for assessing the efficacy of a transmission-blocking vaccine is underway. To accelerate early development of vaccines, in vivo rodent models are being evaluated for their ability to predict human protective immune responses. 

Immune correlates 

Over the past years, MVI has put increasing emphasis on identifying immune correlates of protection. Multiple efforts are underway to characterize the humoral and cellular responses to vaccine candidates in our portfolio, including extensive systems-level analyses. 

Reagent generation 

Variability in procedures and types of assays hinders comparability among vaccine candidates. MVI supports several efforts aimed at identifying high-quality reference reagents and acceptance of common methodologies. 

Reference centers 

We have identified several labs with strong backgrounds in performing standardized assays and have engaged them in assay support activities on behalf of the malaria vaccine community. Activities include blinded testing of preclinical and clinical samples using standardized assays that enable comparison between different formulations and delivery platforms, as well as development of additional assays as needed to evaluate novel antigens.