Frequently Asked Questions
The MOVE consortium is a 3-way partnership with the objective of bringing together vaccine experts from UKHSA, Imperial College London and AstraZeneca to investigate mucosal immunity to better understand how vaccines work and their benefits for public health.
The partnership between Imperial College London, the UK Health Security Agency and AstraZeneca unites complementary strengths across academic research, public health and the pharmaceutical industry sectors. Imperial contributes cutting-edge research expertise, UKHSA provides real-world evidence generation, as well as non-clinical and assay development capabilities, and AstraZeneca brings industry development and infrastructure. This alliance enables comprehensive research spanning laboratory discovery to real-world impact, with objectives to understand mucosal vaccine mechanisms and demonstrate public health impact.
Whilst the effectiveness of mucosal vaccines has been established for over 20 years, the precise mechanisms have not been fully understood. This unique partnership has taken on the challenge of evolving our understanding of how mucosal vaccines stimulate an immune response, starting with identifying a correlate of protection which can be used in future clinical trials.
There is a 5-year phased programme for the evaluation of mucosal vaccines, running from October 2024 to December 2029. The consortium has initiated non-clinical studies to evaluate immune responses and research outcomes will be published when available.
Effective evaluation of how mucosal vaccines stimulate immune responses and interrupt viral transmission at the body’s natural barriers has the potential to revolutionise approaches to preventing respiratory and other mucosal infections. Understanding these mechanisms will reveal how mucosal vaccination might disrupt viral transmission and deliver both direct and indirect public health benefits.
Yes, MOVE adheres to the principles of the 3Rs in order to ensure our research is performed in a humane way. Further information is available here: UKHSA research involving animals – GOV.UK. (opens in new window)
Please contact MOVEconsortium@virgohealth.com to register your interest in collaborating.