Singapore: The director and CEO of Australia's largest virology and communicable disease research center, Burnet Institute's professor Brendan Crabb has recently been appointed as the chair of the US-based Vaccine Science Portfolio Advisory Council (VSPAC). The council is a committee within the Program for Applied Technologies in Health-Malaria Vaccine Initiative (PATH-MVI).

Based in Washington DC, VSPAC oversees many of the world's leading vaccine development efforts, from those at an early stage through to those in clinical trial.

Recently, four of the world's most eminent vaccinologists from academia and industry joined the committee, which was set up to provide strategic input and advice on MVI's scientific portfolio and overall research and development (R&D).

The VSPAC will meet once a year to ensure that the most promising vaccine projects aimed at controlling and eradicating malaria move forward with input from international experts.

Professor Crabb said the committee represents the research, product development and public health communities, private and public sectors and six of the world's continents.