Alexander Mann | Senior Director, Clinical Sciences
hVIVO

Alex Mann has a specific interest in the use of human challenge models to answer key questions around host responses to infection as well as efficacy of treatments and vaccines. Over the last 23 years at hVIVO (formally Retroscreen Virology Ltd.) he has led, managed, designed, and analysed an array of studies using challenge agents such as SARS-Cov-2, RSV, Influenza, and HRV in both healthy subjects and in those with asthma. Working alongside the team at hVIVO, Alex has designed various efficacy trials of vaccines, monoclonals, immunomodulators, and antivirals, as well as using precision sampling to both assist with vaccine development as well as for broader biomarker research. Key areas of research include elucidating why subjects become infected or not (correlates of protection) or develop more severe illness (correlates of disease), as well as to discover host directed drug targets and predictive biomarker algorithms. To address these key questions, Alex and his team have inoculated over 3000 volunteers with various challenge agents, successfully interrogating blood and respiratory samples longitudinally with various omics platform technologies. Collaborations are an important part of research, and he is keen to continue to identify areas where hVIVO can develop fruitful partnerships with academia, digital health, biotech and pharma.