Co-developer of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to speak in Hamilton

Dr. Barney Graham will also discuss future of pandemic preparedness

A co-developer of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine produced by biotechnology company Moderna is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, at the Hamilton High School Performing Arts Center, 327 Fairgrounds Road, as part of a free public presentation sponsored by Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML). The hour-long presentation is intended for a general audience.

 Dr. Barney Graham, who in 2021 retired as deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center within the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, MD, will discuss how years of biological research planning and investment led to the COVID-19 vaccine being developed, tested and publicly available in less than a year. He also will discuss how the world can better prepare for future pandemics.

 While at the VRC Dr. Graham mentored colleague Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, and it was their research team that designed the mRNA structure for what became the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

 Ironically, RML had arranged to have Dr. Graham visit Hamilton in spring 2020 and give a public presentation about vaccine development in general – that visit was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.

 Dr. Graham, now a senior advisor for Global Health Equity and a professor of Medicine and Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Immunology at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, spent most of his career developing and testing several vaccine concepts at NIAID’s VRC. RML also is part of NIAID, and Dr. Graham has collaborated with RML researchers over the past decade.

 “It is no exaggeration to say that Dr. Graham has played and is continuing to play a transformational role in the way that vaccines are designed and produced,” said Marshall Bloom, M.D., Deputy Director for Scientific Management at RML. “We are fortunate that he will be able to share his story with our community. His work is a perfect example of how basic science studies can translate into huge impacts on public health.”

 NIAID conducts and supports research-at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide-to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website<http://www.niaid.nih.gov>.

NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH visit www.nih.gov<http://www.nih.gov>.