Scientific Leader
United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
Presentation Title:
- Development, Characterization and Standardization of Bacterial and Viral Stocks
- Regulatory in Vivo: U.K. Perspective
- Global Responses to the COVID Pandemic
Dr. Simon Funnell has almost 40 years of experience as a researcher in microbiology. Simon's postgraduate and postdoctoral training focused on vaccine research and his career has included translational research to develop vaccines, antibiotics and novel therapies against a wide range of infectious agents including many Select Agents and public health threats. As a study director and scientific leader, he has overseen the bidding, planning, design, execution and reporting of many complex projects involving the development and utilization of in vivo models using aerosols and other routes of infection with Select Agents and public health pathogens funded by several US government agencies as well as UK government and international agencies. He is also working to develop ways to refine, reduce or replace animals in this field.
The challenges of conducting studies aimed at replacing human clinical Phase III efficacy trials are familiar to him and his colleagues at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). UKHSA’s ABSL3 and ABSL4 facilities have been used to conduct a wide range of studies including a GLP study with NHPs. UKHSA (and its predecessors) has been involved in the global response to outbreaks of Influenzae, EBOLA and SARS-CoV-2. Through secondment to the WHO R&D Blueprint team since February 2020, Dr. Funnell has also assisted in the co-ordination of global collaboration aimed at reducing the time required for development and utilization of new vaccines and therapies against SARS-CoV-2. This has resulted in unprecedented co-operation of international scientific groups and the sharing of data in real time where a focus on quality and integrity of data is critically important.