The Jenner Institute is a research institute on the

Old Road Campus The Old Road Campus is a University of Oxford site south of Old Road, in Headington, east Oxford, England. The Churchill Hospital, a teaching hospital managed by the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is to the south. Fac ...

Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston, Oxford, Marston to the north-west, Cowley, Oxfordshire, Cowley to the south, and Bar ...

, east

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It was formed in November 2005 through a partnership between the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

and the UK

Institute for Animal Health The Pirbright Institute (formerly the Institute for Animal Health) is a research institute in Surrey, England, dedicated to the study of infectious diseases of farm animals. It forms part of the UK government's Biotechnology and Biological ...

. It is associated with the

Nuffield Department of Medicine Nuffield may refer to: *William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, founder of Oxford-based Morris Motors and philanthropist *Nuffield, Oxfordshire, a village in Oxfordshire, England and home of William Richard Morris from which he chose his title, Visc ...

, in the Medical Sciences Division of Oxford University. The institute receives charitable support from the Jenner Vaccine Foundation. The institute is led by Prof.

Adrian Hill Adrian Keith Graham Hill (24 March 1895 – 1977) was a British artist, writer, art therapist, educator and broadcaster. Hill served with the Honourable Artillery Company during World War I and was the first artist commissioned by the Imperi ...

. The institute develops vaccines and carries out clinical trials for diseases including malaria, tuberculosis (vaccine

MVA85A MVA85A ( modified vaccinia Ankara 85A) is a vaccine against tuberculosis developed by researchers led by Professor Helen McShane at Oxford University. This vaccine produces higher levels of long-lasting cellular immunity when used together with the ...

ebola Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after bec ...

, and MERS-Coronavirus. In 2020, the institute successfully developed the

Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine The Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine, sold under the brand names Covishield and Vaxzevria among others, is a viral vector vaccine for prevention of COVID-19. Developed in the United Kingdom by Oxford University and British-Swedish com ...

, in a project backed by private companies including

Oxford Sciences Innovation Oxford Sciences Enterprises is an early-stage venture capital firm with over $800M in AUM based in Oxford, UK. It operates in partnership with the University of Oxford, as the university's preferred investor, several prominent financiers back the ...

Google Ventures GV is a venture capital investment arm of Alphabet Inc., founded by Bill Maris, that provides seed, venture, and growth stage funding to technology companies. Founded as Google Ventures in 2009, the firm has operated independently of Google, Alph ...

, and

Sequoia Capital Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...

, among others. When developed, the

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

backed trials, purchased 100million does, and encouraged Oxford to work with AstraZeneca, a company based in Europe, instead of Merck & Co., a US-based company; while the US gave of government funding in return for 300 million doses. It collaborated with Italy's Advent Srl (part of the IRBM Group) on the development and Germany's

Merck Group The Merck Group, branded and commonly known as Merck, is a German multinational science and technology company headquartered in Darmstadt, with about 60,000 employees and present in 66 countries. The group includes around 250 companies; the ma ...

on the manufacture of the

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an est ...

. Vaccinologist Dame

Sarah Gilbert Dame Sarah Catherine Gilbert (born April 1962) is an English vaccinologist who is a Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford and co-founder of Vaccitech. She specialises in the development of vaccines against influenza and emerging ...

was one of the leading scientists involved in the development. The institute is named after the English physician and

immunization Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the immunogen). When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ''non-s ...

pioneer

Edward Jenner Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived ...

(1749–1823), who was a major contributor to the development of the

smallpox vaccine The smallpox vaccine is the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox ...

. __TOC__

History

Previously, the Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research was an independent research institute named after

, the inventor of

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

. It was co-located with the Compton Laboratory of the

on a campus in the village of Compton in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...

. After occupying temporary laboratory space at the Institute for Animal Health from 1996, the institute moved to a newly completed laboratory building in 1998. Funding of the institute continued until October 2005, when it was relaunched replacing the four founding funding partners (

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Gl ...

, the Medical Research Council, the

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds scientific res ...

and the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...

) with the University of Oxford and the Institute for Animal Health.

References

2005 establishments in England Research institutes established in 2005 Research institutes in Oxford Departments of the University of Oxford Research institutes of the University of Oxford Medical research institutes in the United Kingdom Vaccination-related organizations COVID-19 pandemic in England {{UK-med-org-stub