Angela Minassian

I am Chief Investigator and clinical lead on the blood-stage and transmission blocking malaria vaccine programmes headed by Prof Simon Draper and Prof Sumi Biswas. This programme of work includes testing of first-time-in-man vaccines against both Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax malaria, incorporating controlled human malaria infection to test efficacy. I am currently running a first-time-in-man Phase I/IIa trial of the protein vaccine RH5.1/AS01B, which incorporates the PfRH5 antigen – the first reported target in the P. falciparum merozoite that is highly susceptible to broadly-neutralising vaccine-induced antibodies. 

My main research interest is in human challenge models of infection, having completed a DPhil at the Jenner Institute in 2009 which involved development of a human challenge model against tuberculosis, using BCG as a surrogate. Prior to this I was lead investigator on several TB vaccine trials, including that of the first candidate prophylactic TB vaccine to have been administered to HIV-infected individuals.

I am a qualified Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, having completed my specialist training at OUH NHS Trust in 2014, and spent a year working as a Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the Heart of England NHS Trust in Birmingham. I continue working there as an Honorary Consultant.

Key Publications

Angela M Minassian, Bridget L Atkins, Ramy Mansour, Ivor Byren, David Stubbs, Alexander Ramsden, Martin A McNally and Anthony R Berendt. Chronic osteomyelitis of the pubic bones following radiotherapy for urological malignancy. J Clinical Urology. March 11, 2015 2051415815575199 2015

Minassian AM, Osmon DR, Berendt AR. Clinical Guidelines in the Management of Prosthetic Joint Infection. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2014 Sep;69 Suppl 1:i29-35.

Angela M Minassian, Robert Newnham, Elizabeth Kalimeris, Philip Bejon, Bridget L Atkins, Ian CJW Bowler. Use of an automated blood culture system (BD BACTECTM) for diagnosis of prosthetic joint infections: easy and fast. BMC Infectious Diseases. 2014, 14:233

Harris SA, Meyer J, Satti I, Marsay L, Poulton ID, Tanner R, Minassian AM, Fletcher HA, McShane H. Evaluation of a human BCG challenge model to assess anti-mycobacterial immunity induced by BCG and a candidate TB vaccine, MVA85A, alone and in combination. J Infect Dis. 2013 Dec 26.

Matsumiya M, Stylianou E, Griffiths K, Lang Z, Meyer J, Harris SA, Rowland R, Minassian AM, Pathan AA, Fletcher H, McShane H. Roles for Treg Expansion and HMGB1 Signalling through the TLR1-2-6 Axis in Determining the Magnitude of the Antigen-Specific Immune Response to MVA85A. PLoS One. 2013 Jul 3;8(7):e67922.

Rowland R, Pathan AA, Satti I, Poulton ID, Matsumiya MM, Whittaker M, Minassian AM, O'Hara GA, Hamill M, Scott JT, Harris SA, Poyntz HC, Bateman C, Meyer J, Williams N, Gilbert SC, Lawrie AM, Hill AV, McShane H. Safety and immunogenicity of an FP9-vectored candidate tuberculosis vaccine (FP85A), alone & with candidate vaccine MVA85A in BCG-vaccinated healthy adults: phase I clinical trial. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2013 Jan;9(1):50-62.

Rowland, R, Brittain, N, Poulton I, Minassian AM, Sander, CR, Porter D, Williams, N, Satti I, Pathan AA, Lawrie A, Hill AVS, McShane H. Review of the tolerability of candidate TB vaccine, MVA85A compared with BCG & Yellow Fever vaccines, & correlation between MVA85A vaccine reactogenicity & cellular immunogenicity. Trials in Vaccinology, 2012 (1): 27-35.

Minassian AM, Satti I, Poulton ID, Meyer J, Hill AV, McShane H. A human challenge model for Mycobacterium tuberculosis using Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guerin. J Infect Dis 2012 Apr;205(7):1035-42.

Pathan AA, Minassian AM, Sander CR, Poulton I, Rowland R, Porter, Hill AVS, Fletcher HA, McShane H. Effect of vaccine dose on the safety and immunogenicity of a candidate TB vaccine, Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara expressing Ag85A from Mycobacterium tuberculosis in BCG vaccinated UK adults. Vaccine 2012 Aug 17;30(38):5616-24.

Minassian AM, Rowland R, Beveridge NE, Poulton ID, Satti I, Harris S, Poyntz H, Hamill M, Griffiths K, Sander CR, Ambrozak DR, Price DA, Hill BJ, Casazza JP, Douek DC, Koup RA, Roederer M, Winston A, Ross J, Sherrard J, Rooney G, Williams N, Lawrie AM, Fletcher HA, Pathan AA, McShane H. A Phase I study evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of MVA85A, a candidate TB vaccine, in HIV-infected adults. BMJ Open 2011 Nov 14;1(2):e000223.

Griffiths KL, Pathan AA, Minassian AM, Sander CR, Beveridge NE, Hill AV, Fletcher HA, McShane H. Th1/Th17 cell induction and corresponding reduction in ATP consumption following vaccination with the novel Mycobacterium tuberculosis vaccine MVA85A. PLoS One 2011 6(8): e23463. Epub 2011 Aug 26.

Minassian AM, Ronan EO, Poyntz H, Hill AVS & McShane H. Preclinical development of an in vivo BCG challenge model for testing candidate TB vaccine efficacy.PLoSOne20116(5):e19840.

De Cassan S, Pathan AA, Sander CR, Minassian AM, Adrian V. S. Hill, Helen McShane & Helen A. Fletcher. 2009. Investigating the induction of vaccine induced Th17 and regulatory T cells in healthy, BCG immunized adults vaccinated with a new tuberculosis vaccine, MVA85A. Clin Vaccine Immunol 2010 Jul;17(7):1066-73.

Sander CR, Pathan AA, Beveridge NE, Poulton I, Minassian AM, Alder N, Van Wijgerden J, Hill AVS, Gleeson FV, Davies RJ, Pasvol G, and McShane H. Safety and immunogenicity of a new tuberculosis vaccine, MVA85A, in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected individuals. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2009 179:724-733.

Minassian AM, and H. McShane. 2008. Tuberculosis vaccines: present and future. Exp Rev Respir Med 2008 2:721-738.

Beveridge NE., Fletcher HA, Hughes J, Pathan AA, Scriba TJ, Minassian AM, Sander CR, Whelan, KT, Dockrell, HM., Hill, AVS, Hanekom, WA, and McShane H. A comparison of IFN-gamma detection methods used in tuberculosis vaccine trials. Tuberculosis (Edinb) 2008 88:631-640.