New Methods to Measure the Immune Response to Hepatitis B Vaccine

Hepatitis B vaccine is a safe and effective vaccine used widely throughout the world. Because of this it is a useful vaccine in which to develop new methods for studying immune responses. Measuring the immune response to vaccines helps us to understand how they work and whether they are likely to protect any individual against infection. For most vaccines we measure the immune system's production of antibody after a vaccine has been given. The investigators want to develop new methods that give a far more detailed picture of the antibody response to vaccines than has previously been possible. These methods will investigate the genetic instructions used by each antibody producing cell to make antibody. These methods have the potential to give new insights into the way vaccines work, which could be applied to studying vaccines and vaccine schedules in the future.