Mucosal Immunology and Vaccine Development

Biography

Sedigheh Zakeri graduated with a first class honors degree in Biological Science from the University of Mashhad in 1989 and obtained her M.Sc and PhD in Parasite Immunology from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 1994 and 1998, respectively. She joined Parasitology Department in Pasteur Institute of Iran in 1999 and a year later moved to Biotechnology Department, where initiated immune-molecular research on malaria through her re-entry grant awarded by WHO/TDR. Since 2005, Malaria and Vector Research Group (MVRG) established by her and Prof. Navid Dinparast Djadid as an independent research group in Biotechnology Research Center. She is currently Head of the MVRG.

Research Interest

Professor S. Zakeri area of interest is Malaria Immunology and vaccine development.Vaccines could be a crucial component of efforts to eradicate malaria. Continued support for these efforts is essential, but, if malaria vaccines are to be used as part of a repertoire of tools for elimination or eradication of malaria, they will need to have an impact on malaria transmission. Her interest is on "vaccines that interrupt malaria transmission" (VIMT), which not only include "classical" transmission-blocking vaccines but also pre-erythrocytic and asexual stage vaccines that have an effect on transmission. Currently, Prof Zakeri main activities are on “Oral Vaccine Delivery using Microalgae" and the most potent adjuvant for the development of an oral vaccine against malaria in developing countries.