CCC Lifetime Achievement Awards

Reinhard Kirnbauer

Dr. Kirnbauer acts as chief of the Laboratory of Viral Oncology and Professor at the Department of Dermatology. He has a strong interest in translational research and the pathobiology of papillomaviruses. He is recognized for over 30 years of pioneering work on the development of prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, seroepidemiology, and basic aspects of papillomavirus infection. As co-inventor of HPV16 virus-like particles (VLP) technology with Drs Schiller and Lowy, in 1992 he was the first to describe the assembly from L1 into morphologically correct VLP and the induction of high-level neutralizing antisera. In preclinical animal models he then demonstrated VLP vaccine efficacy in rabbits and cows, which formed the basis of clinical HPV vaccine development. His inventions were licensed by MSD and GSK to permit them to develop and produce the current HPV vaccines, Gardasil (-9) and Cervarix. He also developed a VLP-based ELISA that has been widely used in seroepidemiology and vaccination trials. Besides basic work on the cellular papillomavirus receptor, he has developed a vaccine platform based on papillomavirus VLP that carry foreign peptides on their surface, to combat diseases like Alzheimer disease or Prion-related diseases. He also collaborates with the Veterinary Medical University of Vienna developing VLP vaccines against bovine papillomavirus (BPV)-induced neoplasms in horses. He recognizes the need to expand the coverage of prophylactic HPV vaccines to cover all oncogenic types and has joined efforts with Richard Roden at Johns Hopkins University to develop broadly protective HPV vaccines by combining L1 VLP with the conserved protective epitope of L2 defined by the RG-1 monoclonal antibody. This experimental RG1-VLP vaccine has been produced under cGMP supported by the NIH PREVENT Cancer program. He has gained patents and NCI CP-CTNet support for a Phase I study in the US and Austria, and an FDA ‘safe to proceed’ notice. His long-standing experience in HPV vaccine development and leadership skills enable him to serve as collaborator in this project.
 

Complete List of Published Work in MyBibliography:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/10kEU8BN-qmky/bibliography/public/

Elmar A. Joura

Elmar A. Joura, M.D., is associated Professor and gynecological oncologist at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria and head of the clinic for colposcopy and vulvar disease. He worked in Tanzania, and together with Ron Jones at National Womens Hospital in Auckland and wrote his thesis on vulvar disease. Since 2001 Dr. Joura is investigator for HPV vaccine trials. He was president of EUROGIN in 2016 and is past president of the European college for the study of vulvovaginal disease (ECSVD).

Main professional Topics

Clinical
Head of the Colposcopy and Vulvar Clinic (Certified center by DKZ)
Operative Gynecology and Gyne-Oncology (Certified by ESGO)

Scientific
Clinical HPV- Vaccine Trials (Sponsor Merck; Phase III; quadrivalent HPV vaccine FUTURE I, Phase III Ninevalent HPV Vaccine V503)
Epidemiolygy of CIN: Epi~ HPV- HERACLES (Sponsor GSK)
Vulvar Intraepitheliale Neoplasia and Vulvar cancer (Cooperation with FX Bosch)
Surgical Techniques

>170 scientific papers in peer-review journals (i.e.: New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, BMJ, JNCI, Obstet Gynecol, Fertil Steril, Am J Obstet Gynecol, Gynecol Oncol)

>1000  Presentations (Focus: HPV and Vulvar disease)