(Vienna, 12 February 2025) Reinhard Kirnbauer, Head of the Laboratory for Viral Oncology and Professor Emeritus at the Department of Dermatology of the Medical University of Vienna, was presented with the prestigious Maurice Hilleman Award at the 36th International Papillomavirus Conference of the International Papillomavirus Society in Edinburgh.
Reinhard Kirnbauer was honoured for his work, in particular the invention of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer and other genital cancers.
Reinhard Kirnbauer acts as chief of the Laboratory of Viral Oncology and Professor em. at the Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He is recognized for over 30 years of pioneering work on the development of prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, seroepidemiology, and basic aspects of papillomavirus infection.
As co-inventor of HPV16 virus-like particles (VLP) technology with Drs Schiller and Lowy, in 1992 he described the assembly of L1 into morphologically correct VLP and the induction of high-level neutralizing antisera. In preclinical animal models he then demonstrated VLP vaccine efficacy in rabbits and cows, which formed the basis of clinical HPV vaccine development. His inventions were licensed by MSD and GSK to permit them to develop and produce the current HPV vaccines, Gardasil (-9) and Cervarix.
To expand vaccine coverage to all oncogenic types he has joined efforts with Richard Roden at Johns Hopkins University to develop a broadly protective experimental RG1-VLP vaccine that has been produced under cGMP supported by the NIH PREVENT Cancer program. He has gained patents and NCI CP-CTNet support for a Phase I study in the US.