Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development

Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development enters its third decade as one of the leading vaccine development centers in the world. Established in Washington DC as the Sabin Vaccine Institute Product Development Partnership (PDP) in the year 2000 and after relocating to the Texas Medical Center in 2011, it rebranded as Texas Children’s CVD. For the past two decades it has acquired an international reputation as a non-profit PDP, advancing vaccines for poverty-related neglected and emerging diseases – the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Under the stewardship of Dr. Peter Hotez and Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, the center leads global efforts for the advancement of vaccines as global health technologies and advocating for “vaccine diplomacy” to jointly develop vaccines in partnership with many foreign nations as an international bridge for peace and vaccine development capacity building.

The center’s vision of Leading the development and testing of low-cost and effective vaccines against emerging and neglected tropical diseases is accomplished by a two-fold mission: to develop and test new low-cost and effective vaccines and other immunotherapies against emerging and neglected tropical diseases of unmet need and to build capacity for vaccine development locally and with foreign nations.

The center has been very successful in accomplishing its goals and includes as its achievements:

• Developed the first vaccine for human hookworm infection, now entering phase 2 clinical trials.
• Developed the first vaccine for intestinal schistosomiasis, now entering phase 2 clinical trials.
• Developed the first vaccine for Chagas disease, now entering phase 1 clinical trials.
• Developed innovative vaccines for emerging coronavirus infections: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
• Established a portfolio in earlier stages of development for vaccines against other major soil-transmitted helminths, onchocerciasis, and leishmaniasis.

See information about each of the following center's units:

• Antigen Discovery Unit
• Process Development Unit
• Vaccine Formulation and Delivery Systems Unit
• Pre-Clinical Testing Unit
• Immunology Testing Unit
• Analytical Development Unit
• Quality Control Unit
• Molecular Parasitology Testing Unit