LUMC Professor Maria Yazdanbakhsh has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant of 2.5 million euros 

Maria Yazdanbakhsh, Professor of Parasitology at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant of 2.5 million euros. She will investigate why people in Africa and Southeast Asia respond less to certain vaccines than Europeans. Her goal is to find a solution for low vaccine responses.

“New malaria vaccine studies in Europe and the United States show protection of almost 100% amongst participants. However, if we repeat this study in Africa – where the vaccine is most needed – we only see protection in 30% of the participants,” says Maria Yazdanbakhsh , Spinoza Laureate 2021 and head of the Department of Parasitology. This phenomenon is known as hypo-responsiveness and occurs with several vaccines, such as those against Ebola, Rotavirus and Yellow Fever.

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