Dr Mei Mei Ho is a Principal Scientist at National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC), a centre of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Her team in the Bacteriology Division focuses on R&D, quality control and standardisation of biological medicines used in tuberculosis, malaria and healthcare associated infections, such as Clostridium difficile and Staphylococcus aureus. Her laboratory is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 and is responsible for EU batch release and standardisation of mycobacterial products, such as lyophilised BCG.
Dr Ho is one of the core members of Product Development Team (PDT) within the TB Vaccine Consortium (in both EU-funded FP6 and FP7 programmes) and provides regulatory advice and recommendations on vaccine safety, quality and characterisation to vaccine developers and manufacturers. She is also a member of the WHO BCG working group and plays a key role in the standardisation programmes of both physical and written standards for BCG vaccines.
Dr Ho works in NIBSC since 1998 and leads R&D and standardisation projects collaborating with vaccine manufacturers in laboratory evaluation of product characterisation and quality control assays for novel bacterial vaccines, including protein subunit, polysaccharide-protein conjugates, viral vector and live bacterial vaccines. Before joining NIBSC, she received her scientific training in the University of London where she completed her PhD studies (1994) in the fields of endocrinology and biochemistry. She then focused her research in protein biochemistry and molecular biology in her fellowship years.
