BioEcosse 2010

Principal Scientist, Virology, NIBSC

"Rapid EU licensing procedures for pandemic vaccines"

Dr Jim Robertson is a Principal Scientist in Virology at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC), a centre of the Health Protection Agency, UK.  He is a core member of the Vaccine Working Party (VWP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA).  With a broad expertise in virology and molecular biology, he has contributed considerably to regulatory issues and the development of EU and WHO guidelines on pandemic influenza, many other vaccine issues and guidelines concerned with the viral safety of biologicals and biotechnology derived therapeutics.

His laboratory is dedicated to the research and development of influenza vaccines.  In recent years, the principal focus has been on the use of reverse genetics technology in the generation of candidate influenza vaccine viruses.  In 2004, at the start of the current epizootic of avian H5N1, his laboratory was able to develop rapidly an H5N1 vaccine virus and with the onset of the current H1N1 pandemic, he has been at the forefront of vaccine development in collaboration with other WHO centres.