Kathleen Coelingh, MedImmune to Speak at Influenza R&D Conference on July 9-11, 2014, in Boston, MA

Boston, MA, June 19, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Kathleen Coelingh, Senior Director, Medical Affairs at MedImmune to Give a Presentation on, “Development of Pandemic Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccines” at the 3rd Annual Influenza Research and Development Conference on July 9-11, 2014, in Boston, MA, by GTCbio.

Dr. Coelingh will discuss how Avian and animal influenza viruses can sporadically transmit to humans, causing outbreaks of varying severity. In some cases, further human-to-human transmission does not occur, and the outbreak in humans is limited. In other cases, sustained human-to-human occurs, resulting in worldwide influenza pandemics. Preparation for future pandemics is an important global public health goal. A key objective of preparedness is to gain an understanding of how to design, test, and manufacture effective vaccines that could be stockpiled for use in a pandemic. Dr. Coelingh’s presentation summarizes results of an ongoing collaboration to produce, characterize, and clinically test a library of live attenuated influenza vaccine strains containing protective antigens from influenza viruses considered to be of high pandemic potential.

Kathleen L. Coelingh, Ph.D., is Senior Director, Medical Affairs at MedImmune, the biologics unit of AstraZeneca. She has authored more than 70 research papers in peer-reviewed journals, and is responsible for strategic health policy regarding MedImmune’s nasal influenza vaccine. Prior to joining MedImmune, Dr. Coelingh was a senior staff fellow in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases for ten years at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). While at the NIH she led the team that discovered the mouse monoclonal antibody that neutralizes Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), which was humanized at MedImmune and is licensed for prevention of serious lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in high-risk pediatric patients. She began her career as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Webster in the Division of Virology at St. Jude Childrens’ Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.

GTCbio’s 3rd Annual Influenza Research and Development Conference will bring together experts from industry, government and academia to discuss the issues facing the influenza field. Topics will range from basic science of the influenza virus itself to pandemic preparedness to vaccination and clinical development. Attend this conference to learn, discuss and network with fellow scientists and researchers involved in various sectors of the influenza filed in an intimate setting.

This conference is also part of the Infectious Diseases World Summit 2014, which consists of this conference and two other conferences:

1) 12th Vaccines Research & Development: All Things Considered Conference
2) 11th Anti-infectives Partnering and Deal-Making Conference

For more information, please visit www.gtcbio.com