Aeras launches website to advance research for TB vaccination

Aeras, a nonprofit organization dedicated to tuberculosis research and vaccination development, launched a website called AerasSHARE Biorepository to enable researchers from other organizations to access specimens and datasets and enhance collaboration among vaccine researchers, according to a press release.

“It’s vitally important to enable the best researchers to work together to advance vaccine science,” Jacqueline E. Shea, PhD, CEO of Aeras, told Infectious Disease News. “Our partners believe we will make the most progress if we also make the unique samples and datasets from our work available to other researchers developing urgently needed new TB vaccines.”

Jacqueline E. Shea

The website, which is based off the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s BioLINCC program, is governed by a charter that provides general principles for the management and good governance of the repository to ensure the interests of donors and all other stakeholders are safeguarded. It is solely based on advancing TB research, according to Shea.

“This program is related to clinical trials that Aeras and our partners conducted, so it is focused on TB vaccine development,” Shea said.

TB kills more people than any other single infectious agent, with 1.5 million deaths and 9.6 million new cases in 2014, according to the release. Experts agree that new vaccines are critical to ending the epidemic in the next 15 to 20 years, as targeted by the United Nation’s sustainable development goals and WHO.

Researchers, partners and other individuals will be able to access specimens and datasets collected by Aeras and other research partners, as allowed by patient consent. Researchers who wish to access specimens or datasets can submit a request on the AerasSHARE Biorepository website at bioshare.aeras.org, the release said. – by Melinda Stevens

Disclosure: Shea is employed by Aeras.