A pioneering piece of technology that is being used in Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech originated in London around 50 years ago.
Biochemist Gregory Gregoriadis, professor emeritus at University College London, was one of the two scientists who discovered that encasing vaccines within tiny spherical bubbles of fat – known as liposomes – could increase their effectiveness by producing more antibodies.
He and the late Anthony Allison, who was working at the Clinical Research Centre at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, published their findings in a Nature paper in 1974.
Prof Gregoriadis, 86, told the PA news agency: “I started this work in 1971.