Meet PROTECT at ISSAD 2026

This year’s International Symposium on ‘Streptococcus agalactiae’ Disease (ISSAD) is an exciting opportunity for all GBS researchers to share their recent work and connect with leaders in GBS research, vaccine development, and public health. PROTECT partners and collaborators are at the heart of this community and will contribute throughout the event, from chairing sessions to speaking at plenaries and presenting posters.

If you are attending, make sure to check out the list below and come meet us at ISSAD 2026.

Monday, 23 February

10:00 – 11:00 | Plenary: Disease Burden & Surveillance

Dorota Jamrozy (Wellcome Sanger Institute), a contributor to the PROTECT GBS disease surveillance work, will present genomics insights to inform GBS disease burden estimation.

 13:15 – 14:00 | Poster Session: Surveillance & Burden

Poster title: Updated incidence estimation of invasive Group B streptococcal disease in infants under 90 days of age in the UK and Ireland using British Paediatric Surveillance Unit

Presenter: Andrew Young (City St George’s), a contributor to the PROTECT work on pregnancy registry development

Poster title: Strengthening GBS surveillance capacities to enhance neonatal sepsis diagnosis in Africa.

Presenter: Sergio Massora (Fundaçao Manhiça), PROTECT lead for GBS disease surveillance work

 14:00 – 15:30 | Breakout Session: Surveillance & Burden

Clare Cutland (University of the Witwatersrand), a PROTECT Advisory Board member, will chair the session, and Merryn Voysey (University of Oxford), the PROTECT statistical analysis lead, will give a flash talk on protection against invasive GBS disease in young infants, with data from a multi-country analysis of five serocorrelate studies.

Tuesday, 24 February

11:00 – 12:15 | Plenary: Vaccine Policy and Implementation

Kirsty Le Doare (City St George’s), one of the PROTECT coordinators, will speak about evidence consideration for vaccine policy, and Kostas Karampatsas (City St George’s), a contributor to PROTECT’s work on GBS disease surveillance, will speak about the potential for vaccine effectiveness in the UK.

12:30 – 13:30 | Plenary: From Evidence to Action

Michelle Groome (University of the Witwatersrand), a PROTECT Advisory Board member, will speak about the importance of raising the voice of the Global South in preparing for new maternal vaccines. Violet Naanyu (Aga Khan University), PROTECT co-lead on improving vaccine confidence and maternal vaccine trial participation, will speak about prioritising equity in vaccination efforts.

13:30 – 14:30 | Poster session: Implementation Science & Health Systems

Poster title: A roadmap to establish a harmonised Pregnancy Exposure Registry (PER) in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda

Presenter: Gordon Rukundo (MU-JHU), PROTECT lead on pregnancy registry development

16:00 – 17:30 | Breakout session: Implementation Science & Health Systems

Michelle Groome (University of the Witwatersrand), a PROTECT Advisory Board member, will chair the session. Andrew Young (City St George’s), a contributor to the PROTECT work on pregnancy registry development, will speak about the assessment of the performance of an electronic health records system in identifying key maternal and neonatal outcomes of interest compared to a gold standard of a prospectively collected cohort in Kampala, Uganda. Khamisi Musanje (MU-JHU), a contributor to PROTECT’s work on improving vaccine confidence and maternal vaccine trial participation, will give a flash talk on the men’s understanding of maternal vaccination in Uganda.

Wednesday, 25 February

9:15 – 10:15 | Plenary: Intrapartum Antibiotic Prophylaxis for GBS Prevention

Eve Nakabembe (MU-JHU) and Kirsty Le Doare (City St George’s), two of PROTECT’s coordinators, will co-chair the plenary discussion.