Tony Velkov
Monash University, Australia
Biography
Zika is a newly emerged virus that has a grave potential to destabilize civil society as we know it. The World Health Organization (WHO) and National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (CDC, USA), have both called for urgent action towards the development of anti-Zika therapeutics. Currently, there are no approved drugs and vaccines for human Zika virus infection. The development and deployment of a specific vaccine to control Zika virus infection is paramount. Zika is an arbovirus that is transmitted to humans in an enzootic cycle between Aedes mosquitoes (the epizootic vector) and amplifying vertebrae hosts, usually birds. The uncontrolled spread of Zika is a direct threat to Australia's biosecurity, economy and environment. Worryingly, there have been recent reports of infected individuals in Queensland, where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are endemic. Our vaccine development approach employs recombinant Zika virus protein antigens that have been produced in a heterologous expression system. The success of this project should translate to immediate benefits on a global scale and importantly safeguard the global community and economy against this unchecked infectious disease.