Controlled human infection models (CHIMs) can be a powerful tool for generating dosing, safety and efficacy data throughout the vaccine development process, from early development to licensure.
CHIMs can speed up development by rapidly eliminating unsuccessful candidates and de-risking later clinical trials. They are also invaluable when opportunities for field trials are limited, for example in seasonal outbreaks.
These benefits have led to increased interest in CHIMs, including expanding their use in endemic and low-resource settings. However, to unlock their full potential, vaccine developers must navigate ethical and safety concerns, regulatory hurdles, and selection and sourcing of appropriate models.
In May, Vaccine Insights will bring together a panel of leading experts from academia, pharma, and regulatory bodies to discuss the opportunities and challenges of CHIMs in 2025 and beyond.
- Gain valuable insights from panelists with first-hand experience of CHIM studies
- Learn how CHIMs can accelerate vaccine development
- Understand the most important challenges and how these can be overcome
- Explore how to navigate the regulatory landscape for CHIM studies
- Advances in refining existing and developing new CHIMs
Matthew B. Laurens
Professor at University of Maryland School of Medicine
Matthew Laurens, MD, MPH, is a pediatric infectious disease specialist with a primary research interest in malaria, typhoid fever, and other diseases that disproportionately affect people who live in resource-limited settings. He conducts studies at the Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) in Baltimore and at international sites in Burkina Faso, Mali, Malawi, and Uganda.
The broad goal of Dr Laurens’ research is to illuminate the mechanisms of vaccine-induced immunity, with the aim to inform development of vaccines and therapeutics. Dr Laurens directs the Typhoid Vaccine Acceleration Consortium (TyVAC), a partnership between the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford, and PATH.
Anna P. Durbin
Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Anna Durbin is currently Professor of International Health and Director of the Center for Immunization Research at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). Her research interest involves the human responses to live attenuated vaccines and subunit protein vaccines, with a primary focus on the flavivirus vaccines.
She and her group have developed two dengue controlled human infection models (D-CHIM) and two Zika virus CHIMs to down-select candidate vaccines and characterize the human immune response to dengue & Zika viruses. She is utilizing D-CHIM studies to evaluate novel dengue antivirals as prophylaxis and treatment for dengue.
Marco Cavaleri
Head of Biological Health Threats and Vaccines Strategy at EMA
Marco Cavaleri is the Chair of EMA COVID-19 Task Force (ETF) and responsible for EMA activities for emergent pathogens, vaccines, and antimicrobial resistance. Marco is a pharmacologist who spent several years in industry R&D, mainly in preclinical and clinical development of anti-infectives.
In 2005, he joined the EMA as Scientific Administrator in the Scientific Advice Sector, specifically anti-infectives and vaccines scientific advice procedures, and in 2009 he was appointed as Head of Section for Anti-infectives and Vaccines in the Safety & Efficacy Sector, Human Medicines Development and Evaluation Unit.
Robbert van der Most
Consultant at VaxxCellence
Robbert started VaxxCellence in 2024, after 16 years of experience in vaccine R&D at BioNTech, GSK and CEPI, covering all aspects from preclinical and discovery to post-licensure and safety studies.
Robbert received his PhD in virology at the University of Leiden in 1994. After postdoctoral work on LCMV immunology, human immunology using YFV-17D immunization as a model, and immune-oncology, he joined GSK Vaccines in 2008, leading the Translational Science team and focusing on malaria, TB, influenza and others. After leaving GSK, he joined CEPI and then worked at BioNTech as head of translational science for infectious diseases, building the team to manage the portfolio of projects, before becoming an independent consultant.
