Sarah Gilbert

Gilbert has been involved with the development of a new vaccination to protect against coronavirus since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She leads the work on this vaccine candidate alongside Andrew Pollard, Teresa Lambe, Sandy Douglas, Catherine Green and Adrian Hill. As with her earlier work, the COVID-19 vaccine makes use of an adenoviral vector, which stimulates an immune response against the coronavirus spike protein. Plans were anncounced to start animal studies in March 2020, and recruitment began of 510 human participants for a phase I/II trial on 27 March. In April 2020, Gilbert was reported as saying that her candidate vaccine could be available by September 2020, if everything goes to plan with the clinical trial, which has received funding from sources such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. In April 2020, she was interviewed about the developments by Andrew Marr on BBC television. Because of her vaccine research, in May 2020, Gilbert featured on The Times' 'Science Power List'.

Gilbert was involved with the development and testing of the universal flu vaccine. Unlike conventional vaccinations, the universal flu vaccine did not stimulate the production of antibodies, but instead triggers the immune system to create T cells that are specific for influenza. It makes use of one of the core proteins (nucleoprotein and matrix protein 1) inside the Influenza A virus, not the external proteins that exist on the outside coat. As the immune system weakens with age, conventional vaccinations are not effective for elderly. The universal flu vaccine does not need to be reformatted every year and stops people from needing a seasonal flu vaccine. Her first clinical trials, which were in 2008, made use of the Influenza A virus subtype H3N2, and included daily monitoring of the patient's symptoms. It was the first study that it was possible to stimulate T cells in response to a flu virus, and that this stimulation would protect people from getting the flu. Her research has demonstrated that the adenoviral vector ChAdOx1 can be used to make vaccinations that are protective against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in mice and able to induce immune response against MERS in humans. The same vector was also used to create a vaccine against Nipah which was effective in hamsters (but never proven in humans), in addition to a potential vaccine for Rift Valley Fever that was protective in sheep, goats, and cattle (but not proven in humans).

Gilbert gave birth to triplets in 1998. Her partner gave up his career to be their primary carer.

After earning her doctoral degree Gilbert worked as a postdoctoral researcher in industry at the Brewing Industry Research Foundation before moving to the Leicester Biocentre. Gilbert eventually joined Delta Biotechnology, a biopharmaceutical company that manufactured drugs in Nottingham. In 1994, Gilbert returned to academia, joining the laboratory of Adrian V. S. Hill. Her early research considered host–parasite interactions in malaria. She was made a Reader in Vaccinology at the University of Oxford in 2004. She was made Professor at the Jenner Institute in 2010. With the support of the Wellcome Trust, Gilbert started work on the design and creation of novel influenza vaccinations. In particular, her research considers the development and preclinical testing of viral vaccinations, which embed a pathogenic protein inside a safe virus. These viral vaccinations induce a T cell response, which can be used against viral diseases, malaria and cancer.

Sarah Catherine Gilbert (born April 1962) is a British vaccinologist who is Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford and co-founder of Vaccitech. Gilbert specialises in the development of vaccines against influenza and emerging viral pathogens. She led the development and testing of the universal flu vaccine, which underwent clinical trials in 2011. In April 2020, Gilbert claimed that with more funding, she could deliver a COVID-19 vaccine by September 2020.