Sarah Gilbert facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sarah Gilbert
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| Born | April 1962 (age 63) Kettering, Northamptonshire, England
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| Alma mater | University of East Anglia (BSc) University of Hull (PhD) |
| Known for | Vaccinology |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Albert Medal (2021) Princess of Asturias Award (2021) King Faisal Prize (2023) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Vaccines |
| Institutions | University of Oxford Vaccitech Delta Biotechnology Leicester Biocentre Brewing Industry Research Foundation Christ Church, Oxford |
| Thesis | Studies on lipid accumulation and genetics of Rhodosporidium toruloides (1986) |
| Doctoral advisor | Colin Ratledge, Dr M. Keenan |
Dame Sarah Catherine Gilbert is a top English scientist who creates vaccines. She is a professor at the University of Oxford and helped start a company called Vaccitech. Her main work is making vaccines to fight the flu and new viruses that appear.
In 2011, she led the team that tested a special kind of universal flu vaccine. This vaccine was designed to protect against many types of flu, not just one.
In January 2020, she learned about a new illness in China. It was a strange kind of pneumonia in Wuhan. Within two weeks, her team at Oxford had designed a vaccine for this new sickness. This illness later became known as COVID-19.
On December 30, 2020, the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in the UK. Sarah Gilbert helped create this vaccine with the Oxford Vaccine Group. Over 3 billion doses of this vaccine were sent to countries all over the world.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Sarah Catherine Gilbert was born in Kettering, a town in Northamptonshire, England. Her father worked in an office for a shoe company. Her mother was a teacher at a primary school.
Sarah went to Kettering High School for Girls. There, she realized she wanted to work in medicine. She did very well in her school exams.
In 1983, she earned a science degree in biological sciences from the University of East Anglia (UEA). While at UEA, she started playing the saxophone. She would practice in the woods so she wouldn't bother anyone.
She then went to the University of Hull for her advanced degree. She studied the genetics and biochemistry of a type of yeast. She earned her PhD in 1986.
Her Amazing Work with Vaccines
After getting her PhD, Sarah Gilbert worked in different science jobs. She joined Delta Biotechnology in 1990. This company made medicines in Nottingham.
In 1994, she returned to university work at the University of Oxford. Her early research looked at how hosts and malaria parasites interact. She became a professor at the Jenner Institute in 2010.
With help from the Wellcome Trust, Sarah Gilbert started working on new flu vaccines. Her research focuses on making and testing viral vaccines. These vaccines put a small part of a harmful protein inside a safe virus.
These special viral vaccines help the body's immune system create T cells. These T cells can fight against viral diseases, malaria, and even cancer.
Fighting Flu and Other Viruses
Sarah Gilbert was a key part of developing the universal flu vaccine. This vaccine is different from regular flu shots. It doesn't make the body produce antibodies. Instead, it makes the immune system create T cells that specifically target the flu.
It uses parts of the Influenza A virus that are inside the virus. Regular vaccines often target the outside parts, which change every year. This means the universal flu vaccine might not need to be updated yearly.
This vaccine could be very helpful for older people. Their immune systems can weaken with age, making regular vaccines less effective.
Her first tests in 2008 showed promising results. They proved that it was possible to make T cells respond to a flu virus. And this response could protect people from getting the flu.
Her research also showed that a special virus, called ChAdOx1, can be used to make vaccines. This ChAdOx1 virus helped create a vaccine against Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in mice. It also caused an immune response against MERS in humans.
The same ChAdOx1 virus was used to try and make vaccines for other diseases. These included Nipah and Rift Valley Fever.
The COVID-19 Vaccine Story
Sarah Gilbert has been working on a new vaccine to protect against coronavirus. She started this work at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She leads this vaccine project with other scientists like Andrew Pollard and Catherine Green.
Just like her earlier work, the COVID-19 vaccine uses the special ChAdOx1 virus. This virus helps the body's immune system fight the coronavirus.
In March 2020, they announced plans to start animal studies. By March 27, they began looking for 510 people to test the vaccine.
In April 2020, Sarah Gilbert talked about the vaccine on BBC television. She said the vaccine might be ready by September 2020 if the tests went well. The project received money from groups like the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
In September 2020, Gilbert shared an update. The vaccine, called AZD1222, was being made by AstraZeneca. At the same time, bigger tests were still happening. Because of her vaccine work, The Times newspaper put her on its 'Science Power List' in May 2020.
In 2021, Sarah Gilbert and Catherine Green wrote a book together. It's called Vaxxers: the inside story of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and the race against the virus.
Awards and Recognition
Sarah Gilbert was featured on a BBC Radio 4 show called The Life Scientific in September 2020. She was also named one of the BBC's 100 Women in November 2020.
She became a senior research fellow at Christ Church, Oxford. In March 2021, she received the Rosalind Franklin medal for her science work. She gave a speech about the history of vaccines and the progress of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
In June 2021, Sarah Gilbert received a standing ovation at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships. In 2021, the toy company Mattel made a Barbie doll in her honor. This was to recognize her as a role model.
- 2021 – Humanists UK Rosalind Franklin Medal
- 2021 – Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts
- 2021 – Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her work on the COVID-19 vaccine
- 2021 – Princess of Asturias Award for Technical & Scientific Research
- 2021 – Royal Society of Medicine Gold Medal
- 2022 – Honorary doctorate of science from the University of East Anglia
- 2022 – Honorary degree from the University of Bath
- 2023 – King Faisal Prize in Medicine
- 2023 – Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
Her Life Outside Work
Sarah Gilbert had triplets in 1998. Her partner stopped his own career to be their main caregiver. As of 2020, all three of her children are studying biochemistry at university.
Images for kids
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This image shows what the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, looks like.
