Congratulations to Florian Brod who completed a viva exam and successfully defended his DPhil thesis today.

Post-viva celebrations. Left to right: Prof. Sumi Biswas (supervisor), Dr. Gavin Wright (examiner), Dr. Florian Brod and Prof. Kevin Marsh (examiner)

Florian has spent the past three years at the Jenner Institute working with Professor Sumi Biswas and Professor Adrian Hill. His DPhil project focussed on developing multi-stage vaccines against malaria. Florian designed a virus like particle to induce immunity against infection in humans and to block transmission via the mosquito vector. In addition to this he studied protein-protein interactions between the parasite and mosquito to identify further targets that could be exploited for a transmission blocking vaccine.

In his first year, Florian undertook rotations at the Mahidol-Oxford Research Unit, Bangkok, Thailand with Professors Susie Dunachie and Nick Day and at the Dunn School with Professor Quentin Sattentau as well as at the Jenner Institute.

We wish Florian all the best with his future career.