WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Meningococci

WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Meningococci
Name	WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Meningococci

WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Meningococci

The WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Meningococci is an international reference laboratory designated by the World Health Organization to provide expertise on Neisseria meningitidis diagnostics, epidemiology, and vaccine-related research. The Centre interacts with public health agencies, academic institutions, and vaccine manufacturers to support global meningococcal disease control, outbreak response, and laboratory standardization across regions such as Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

History

The Centre traces its origins to specialized meningococcal research units within institutions such as the Wellcome Trust–funded laboratories, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and national reference laboratories in countries including the United Kingdom, France, and the United States. During the meningitis belt epidemics described by researchers working in Nigeria, Chad, and Mali, collaborations with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Institut Pasteur accelerated formal WHO designation. Landmark events shaping the Centre’s remit included the introduction of serogroup-specific conjugate vaccines by GSK and Pfizer, vaccine policy recommendations by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and technical guidance from the Global Vaccine Action Plan under the World Health Assembly.

Organization and Mission

Administratively, the Centre functions within a host institution—often a university or national public health laboratory—cooperating with the World Health Organization headquarters and regional offices such as WHO Regional Office for Africa and WHO Regional Office for Europe. Its mission aligns with mandates from the International Health Regulations (2005), the Global Meningococcal Initiative, and advisory groups like the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization. Leadership typically includes directors with appointments from institutions like London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, or the Institut Pasteur, and formal ties to bodies such as the National Institutes of Health and national ministries of health in countries like Kenya and Brazil.

Functions and Activities

The Centre’s core functions encompass strain characterization for agencies including the European Medicines Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, quality assurance for commercial assays from companies like Roche Diagnostics and Abbott Laboratories, and provision of reference reagents used by networks such as the Global Polio Laboratory Network and the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System. Activities include advising Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance on vaccine introduction, assisting Médecins Sans Frontières during outbreaks, participating in multicenter trials coordinated by groups such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and informing policies at the United Nations Children's Fund and the Pan American Health Organization.

Research and Surveillance

Research priorities at the Centre have included molecular epidemiology, genomic surveillance, and vaccine efficacy studies employing platforms from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Broad Institute. The Centre collaborates with consortia such as the MenAfriNet Consortium and the European Meningococcal and Haemophilus Disease Society, contributing data to public databases maintained by GenBank, European Nucleotide Archive, and initiatives like Nextstrain. Surveillance partnerships extend to national public health institutes including the Robert Koch Institute, the Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé, and the Public Health Agency of Canada, and feed into WHO immunization policy processes and the Global Health Security Agenda.

Strain Reference and Laboratory Services

As a strain reference center, it maintains culture collections comparable to collections at the American Type Culture Collection and collaborates with repositories such as the National Collection of Pathogenic Fungi for standards. Laboratory services include serogrouping, multilocus sequence typing used by the PubMLST database, whole-genome sequencing in partnership with centers like the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, antimicrobial susceptibility testing aligned with Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines, and development of reference sera used by manufacturers including Sanofi and Novartis. The Centre supports external quality assessment schemes coordinated with organizations like the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and contributes to proficiency testing run by the International Organization for Standardization stakeholders.

Training and Capacity Building

Training programs have targeted laboratory personnel from ministries of health in Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, and India, delivered jointly with academic partners such as the Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge. Capacity building includes hands-on workshops on molecular typing supported by grants from the Wellcome Trust and the Gates Foundation, online resources produced in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the CDC Foundation, and mentorship for researchers linked with the African Academy of Sciences and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.

Collaborations and Impact

The Centre’s collaborations span vaccine manufacturers (e.g., GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi), regulatory agencies like the European Medicines Agency, philanthropic funders including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, and academic networks featuring the University of Oxford, Harvard University, and the Karolinska Institutet. Its impact includes informing WHO position papers, guiding mass vaccination campaigns across the African meningitis belt coordinated with MenAfriNet Consortium and national ministries, and enabling rapid outbreak investigation with partners such as Médecins Sans Frontières and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Centre’s work underpins public health measures endorsed at the World Health Assembly and contributes to global targets promoted by the Global Vaccine Action Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Category:World Health Organization