Research Activities

Professor S.S. Vasan, who goes by his surname, is Honorary Professor of Health Sciences at the University of York, UK.

As CSIRO's COVID-19 science leader based at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP), formerly the Australian Animal Health Laboratory, he led on research, development and preclinical evaluation of medical countermeasures for dangerous pathogens affecting humans and animals (zoonoses), especially those requiring high containment at biosafety level 3 or 4. The portfolio of projects he successfully initiated and led as Principal Investigator includes COVID-19 systems biology case control study in Victoria (CSIRO in partnership with Barwon Health and Deakin University), finding repurposed drugs for COVID-19 (MRFF), preclinical development of a warm vaccine and antibody therapy (Mynvax), and research on how the SARS-CoV-2 virus is mutating and its impact on vaccines and countermeasures (FDA). He led his ACDP project team to the Chairman's Medal 2020, the highest award bestowed by the national science agency of Australia, for critical preclinical evaluation studies on the Oxford-AZ (adenoviral) and Inovio (DNA) vaccines.

He was previously at the equivalent high containment facility in Porton Down, UK, and prior to that with Oxford University’s spin-out Oxitec as Head of Public Health working on arboviral diseases. Fellow of several professional bodies, he obtained his doctorate from Trinity College, Oxford, on a Rhodes Scholarship.

Research Keywords

Researching in the following areas: Emerging infectious diseases, Health Security, Public health, Re-emerging infectious diseases, Vector-borne diseases