As part of the research program, and in collaboration with researchers at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, volunteers will be vaccinated and then given a deliberate Strep A infection to test the vaccine.

The research will lead to Phase II studies where hundreds of volunteers will be vaccinated and followed to test the efficacy of the vaccine in a real-world setting.

Griffith University Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans said this generous funding from the Leducq Foundation is one of the largest philanthropic donations the university has ever received.

“As a university, we are incredibly proud of the work being done by the Institute for Glycomics and to test the vaccine through a controlled live dose of the bacteria will be ground-breaking for the medical world,” Professor Evans said.

“Leducq Foundation is a great partner to have on board as its mission is to improve human health through international efforts to combat cardiovascular disease and stroke.”

Lead researcher Professor Michael Good AO and Associate Professor Manisha Pandey, both from the Institute for Glycomics, discovered Strep A’s Achilles heel to help prevent not only Strep A infection but also rheumatic heart disease.

“A human clinical trial, which started in November, is currently underway in Canada at the University of Alberta where volunteers are receiving the vaccine to test for safety and immunogenicity,” Professor Good said.

“The vaccine, developed by Griffith University, is designed around key immune determinants, defined by the research team, which represent the organism’s Achilles heel.

“In pre-clinical research the vaccine has been shown to protect against all strains of Strep A that have been tested.

“There is currently no vaccine available for rheumatic heart disease and Strep A, and natural immunity takes years to develop.”

Strep A is responsible for rheumatic heart disease and many cases of deadly invasive disease and toxic shock.

In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people suffer the highest rate of rheumatic heart disease in the world.

It is estimated that around 500,000 people die each year as a result of Strep A infection.

Associate Professor Pandey said the funding from the Leducq Foundation will go a long way towards the continued development of the vaccine candidate through Phase I human clinical trials.

“This is ground-breaking medical research in which we will be able to test a Strep A vaccine in a human challenge trial,” she said.

“This next step will be crucial to test the efficacy of the vaccine in healthy participants.

“Following on from this, our research will then pave the way for a comprehensive testing strategy where we identify the optimal dose of the vaccine to take into a Phase II clinical trial.”

Dr David Milan, Leducq Chief Scientific Officer, said that supporting this effort to develop a Strep A vaccine falls squarely within the cardiovascular disease mission of the Leducq Foundation.