Glycoconjugate vaccines represent one of the most effective drugs ever discovered. Anti-pneumococcal carbohydrate-based vaccines are one of the best seller therapeutics for pharmaceutical companies. After the introduction of this vaccination, in fact, the cases of Streptococcus pneumoniae infections dramatically reduced. Glycoscience has seen immense progress over the recent years and new mechanistic insights are emerging in the glycoimmunology area, such as the role of glycopeptides. The scientific elements of this training will provide the fellows with the tools to become competent in glycoscience research applied to vaccine discovery; the training program will provide knowledge of all the different phases and disciplines involved in the rational design and development of glycoconjugate vaccines.

Moreover, the transferable skill courses foreseen in GLYCOVAX will provide to the ESRs the necessary tools to become project managers, to find funds and to communicate effectively to different stakeholders or non-scientific media. The courses, will guarantee that all the ESRs will receive enough knowledge on various complementary topics to foster their entrepreneurial mind-set. The intersectoriality and interdisciplinary aspects of the partnership will create a generation of scientists able to adapt to changes in global technology and that will represent an investment into the research livelihood of the European Union.