Dr Rachel McMullan, Senior Lecturer in Health Sciences hosts Professor of Biology, David Male and Dr Jon Golding, also a Senior Lecturer in Health Sciences, present their research in to the different types of COVID-19 vaccines, the potential for immunity and both the current and upcoming approaches to treating COVID-19.

Professor Male will delve into ‘Vaccines and Variants’ - how the SARS-COV2 corona-virus may develop over the next few months and years, and the potential for developing long-term immunity following vaccination or natural infection.

To complement that presentation, Dr Golding will talk about current and upcoming drug approaches to treating COVID-19: from bleach to dexamethasone.

Following these presentations, Dr McMullan will invite questions from the audience. Please engage in the discussion using the hashtags #BSW21 and #OUSTEM- submit your questions to the experts by popping them in the chat, or emailing them over to STEM-News@open.ac.uk and we will try to get as many answered as we can.

Get to know our experts:

Dr Rachel McMullan [First image]

Rachel is a Senior Lecturer in Health Sciences in the School of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences at The Open University where she contributes to health sciences and biology modules across all levels. She has a BSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology and a PhD in Cell Biology from the University of Birmingham. Her research uses the model organism C. elegans to understand how changes in the environment alter behaviour. In particular, she is interested in how animals change their behaviour to avoid pathogens and protect themselves from infection.

Professor David Male [Second image]

Davis has been a Professor of Biology at the OU since 1999. He is an author and editor of a number of Immunology textbooks, including Immunology (9th ed), Immunology: an illustrated outline (5th ed) and Advanced Immunology (3rd ed). His research has been in the field of neuroimmunology and inflammatory conditions that affect the brain. More recently he has been working on methods to deliver therapeutic agents to the brain using nanoparticle carriers. Davis has had a long-term interest in the development of virtual microscopes and interactive laboratory experiments for enhancing on-line teaching of biomedical sciences.

Dr Jon Golding [Third image]

Jon did his PhD at King’s College on nerve regeneration. His Postdoc was on positions on developmental neurobiology and muscle stem cells. Jon is currently a senior lecturer at the OU with research interests in cancer therapies. He runs the OU project module S390 and the module SK320, 'infectious disease and public health’.

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