William Florence, DTRA, to Present on Biodefense Vaccines at GTC’s Vaccines Conf., July 8-10, Boston

Boston, MA, May 23, 2013 --(PR.com)-- William Florence, Acting Branch Chief for Vaccines in the Translational Medical Division at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, will present on “Current Biodefense Vaccine Programs and Challenges” at GTC’s 11th Vaccines Research & Development: All Things Considered Conference on July 8–10, 2013 in Boston, MA.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office manages the Chemical and Biological Defense Program’s Science and Technology portfolio. The Joint Science and Technology Office’s mission is to invest in transformational ideas, innovative people, and actionable technology development for Chemical and Biological Defense solutions, with the primary goal to deliver Science and Technology products and capabilities to the warfighter and civilian population that outpace the threat. This commentary focuses on one thrust area within this mission: the Vaccine program of the Joint Science and Technology Office’s Translational Medical Division. Dr. Florence will describe candidate vaccines currently in the S&T pipeline, enabling technologies that should facilitate advanced development of these candidates into FDA licensed vaccines, and how the ever-changing biological threat landscape impacts the future of biodefense vaccines.

Dr. William Florence, received B.S. in Clinical Laboratory Science from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in 1995 and received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University in Immunology in 2007, where he studied the intersection of intracellular pathogens and the Class II antigen presentation pathway. From 2007 – 2009, he was a post-doctoral research fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and studied antigen presentation of glycolipids to invariant natural killer T-cells and their role in the immune response to intracellular pathogens. He joined DTRA-JSTO in 2010 and is the Acting Branch Chief for Vaccines in the Translational Medical Division.

The 11th Vaccines Research & Development: All Things Considered Conference continues a tradition of presenting valuable updates and exposure to all aspects of vaccine development, including research, product design considerations / specifications, manufacturing, regulations, investment, and policy, in a comfortable, interactive and friendly setting. It brings together the leaders in vaccinology from industry, academia, and the government for practical discussions on the future of the discipline.

This conference is part of the Infectious Diseases World Summit 2013 and will be held concurrently with two other tracks which are:

2nd Influenza Research and Development
10th Anti-Infectives Partnering and Deal-Making

For more information, please visit www.gtcbio.com/vaccines