Emerging pathogens remain a persistent threat to global health and security. Many pathogens with outbreak potential have been described over the last two decades yet licensed vaccines are not available against most of these pathogens. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa that began in 2014 demonstrated what could be achieved with suitable funding, determination and attention. In particular, the establishment of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has provided a focus and framework for the development of vaccines against priority pathogens. The development of vaccines for emerging pathogens draws on a number of areas of research from preclinical research, trial design to manufacturing, from immune correlates to social sciences. The coalescence of these areas and many more are required for the rapid development and eventual deployment of novel vaccines.

Despite a renewed focus on the development of vaccines against emerging pathogens, there is an array of challenges to be addressed. Because responses to potential outbreaks must be rapid to be useful, technologies are required that can be adapted and manufactured rapidly to be evaluated in clinical trials. Candidate antigens must be identified and assays to measure immune responses developed. Novel vaccines must be suitable for use in all parts of a population at risk, including children and pregnant women.

This Research Topic will bring together advances across the spectrum of vaccine development for emerging pathogens, with a particular emphasis on novel applications of existing technology and translation of research from basic discovery to clinical evaluation. The following topics are of particular interest:

• Novel platform technologies for vaccine development
• Preclinical development of vaccines to aid translational research
• Process development and vaccine manufacturing
• Animal models for the comparative evaluation of new vaccines
• Trial design and ethical considerations for early-stage clinical trials
• Immunomonitoring of vaccine-induce immunity and standardization of assays
• Evaluation of vaccines for emerging pathogens in pregnant women and children
• Immune correlates of protection and bridging between animal models and humans
• Regulatory considerations for vaccines against emerging pathogens
• Identification and characterization of novel vaccine antigens

This Research Topic welcomes contributions on novel aspects of vaccine development for emerging pathogens, particularly viruses with pandemic potential for which vaccines have not yet been licensed. We aim to bring together articles on a broad range of topics providing an overview of the latest research in this fast-moving area. We also seek to address previously understudied aspects of emerging pathogen vaccines, such as their deployment in pregnant women as well as the development of animal models that can facilitate understanding of disease process, vaccine development, and licensure.

We welcome authors to submit Original Research, Review, Mini-Review, Hypothesis and Theory, Perspective, Clinical Trial, and Case Report articles.

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Frontiers in Immunology

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