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Human Challenge Studies

The power of human challenge studies in tackling infections

Read a summary of how deliberately infecting healthy volunteers with a disease could help to save the lives of many more people and meet the people leading these studies.

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Imperial is a leader in human challenge studies and led the first human challenge studies for COVID-19. These are carefully managed medical research studies, during which volunteers are intentionally given an infection in a safe way with healthcare support. By providing careful control of the timing and dose of an introduced pathogen, they provide unique insight into the timeline of immunity, capturing the path of infection from the moment a person is exposed, through their infection, and beyond the point they are clear it.

All human challenge studies carried out by Imperial require ethical approval from the UK Health Research Authority. Trials are designed to minimise risk to study participants, and the health and safety of participants are paramount.

Maker challenge in the Makerspace at The Invention Rooms

HIC-Vac network

Improving vaccine development through human

a doctor or trainee talks to a patient in a hospital room

MusiCC (Mucosal Immunity in human Coronavirus Challenge)

Global human challenge consortium to push for next generation of vaccines.

Experts working in this area:

Professor Wendy Barclay: Characterising recombinant viruses for use in human challenge studies.
Professor Rafael Calvo: Design systems, behaviour analytics, communication, ethics.
Professor Chris Chiu: Human Challenge studies, including Coronaviruses, RSV, influenza. Leads Mucosal Immunity in human Coronavirus Challenge (MusiCC) project. Led world's first COVID-19 challenge trial.
Dr Malick Gibani: Human challenge studies, including for Non-Typhoidal Salmonella (CHANTS project).
Professor Nick Grassly: Rotavirus challenge model using live-attenuated vaccine in children in Zambia.
Dr Mahdi Moradi Marjaneh: Bioinformatics, transcriptomics in the context of human challenge studies.
Professor Peter Openshaw: Human challenge studies in influenza, RSV, SARS-CoV-2.
Professor Faith Osier: Malaria human challenge studies.
Dr Anika Singanayagam: Human challenge studies to study transmission. PI for SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant human challenge study.
Dr Ryan Thwaites: Human challenge studies in Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Influenza, and SARS-CoV-2.
Professor Helen Ward: Research on public involvement and engagement in Human Challenge research

Would you get sick for science? (Listen)

Listen to Professor Chris Chiu on BBC's 'The Evidence' as he explains what human challenge trials are all about, their safety, and what the work has accomplished to date.

Listen now (BBC The Evidence)

Challenge Non-Typhoidal Salmonella (CHANTS) study (Watch)

CHANTS study's lead, Dr Malick Gibani, trial participants, and a Senior Clinical Nurse explain why this study is important and what it involves.

Watch video (YouTube)

COVID-19 challenge study reveals memory & cognition changes

Oct 2024: An Imperial-led study has highlighted specific changes associated with COVID-19 in particular brain function scores of healthy young people.

Gloved hands perform a finger prick test

Human challenge studies for development of malaria vaccines

July 2024: Challenge study in malaria reveals why some get sick and others don’t – and points to ways to induce stronger immunity through vaccination.

A clinician in PPE pipettes a clear liquid into the nose of a reclined participant

Challenge study explains why some people don't get COVID

June 2024: Challenge study helps to uncover how some people avoid getting sick.

HIC-Vac: Improving vaccine development through challenges

June 2024: Professor Peter Openshaw explains how HIC-Vac is developing human challenge studies to improve vaccines against major infections.

Group photo of approx 30 scientists outside 70 QueensGate

MusiCC project kicks off

April 2024: Kick off of ambitious 5-year global human challenge consortium.

MusiCC to push for next gen vaccines

March 2024: International group consortium to develop advanced virus-blocking vaccines.

COVID-19 human challenge study reveals viral spread

June 2023: New analysis shows how the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads from the nose to the air and surfaces in the immediate surroundings.

Human challenge study to tackle global impact of Salmonella

June 2022: How can a human challenge study help tackle the global impact of Salmonella

COVID-19 challenge study reveals insights into infection

Feb 2022: Findings from the UK’s world-leading human challenge study provide new insights into mild infections with SARS-CoV-2 in healthy young adults

First COVID-19 human challenge volunteers leave quarantine

March 2021: UK’s COVID-19 human challenge study has reached its first milestone after administering virus to three volunteers in a controlled setting.

Researchers to explore human challenge studies for COVID-19

Oct 2020: Researchers set to explore a human challenge study with the virus that causes COVID-19, the first such study anywhere in the world.

Key human challenge studies

Open to recruitment

COVID-19-COVCHIM-02: A new human challenge study for COVID-19.
CHANTS study: Non-typhoidal Salmonella human challenge model: A safety and dose escalation study

Closed to recruitment/past studies

COVHIC001 : The world's first human challenge study for COVID-19
COVHIC002: COVID-19 human challenge study.
RSV CHIRP01: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) human challenge study.
INFLAMMAGE: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) human challenge study.
NCT01349543: The development of a human model of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection
CHMI-SIKA: Controlled Human Malaria Infection in Semi-Immune Kenyan Adults.
Rotavirus challenge model using live-attenuated vaccine in children in Zambia.