{"id":291255,"date":"2026-01-18T19:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/291255\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T19:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:13:14","slug":"scientist-whose-work-laid-foundations-for-covid-vaccines-dies-aged-91-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/291255\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientist whose work laid foundations for Covid vaccines dies aged 91 \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A scientist whose work more than 50 years ago laid the foundations for Covid vaccines has died aged 91, his family have announced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Professor Gregory Gregoriadis pioneered the use of liposomes for drug targeting in a paper he co-authored with Brenda Ryman at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1971.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The biochemist discovered that encasing vaccines within tiny spherical bubbles of fat \u2013 known as liposomes \u2013 could increase their effectiveness by producing more antibodies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He co-authored another study, published in Nature magazine in 1974, which demonstrated that liposomes could also act as \u201cimmunological adjuvants\u201d to enhance vaccines.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/uk\/chance-of-snow-forecast-with-temperatures-expected-to-plummet-again-EJ5A3IAPZBMZNJMPUSMIDJBRWM\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Chance of snow forecast with temperatures expected to plummet again\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PVAM6P5RTZNWPL5VROBDJJ4ACM.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/uk\/diverted-west-coast-trains-to-use-historic-rail-line-for-first-time-in-decade-W367JQF4JNOENA2DLVT6MXZWJY\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Diverted West Coast trains to use historic rail line for first time in decade\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/BOCZZLQOJZL77GW4UVLZXJIBKI.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Professor Gregory Gregoriadis with Brenda Ryman in their laboratory at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1971\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4GHPQ4WVOZM5JAWFCFFJ6B7LJA.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"1200\"\/>Professor Gregory Gregoriadis with Brenda Ryman in their laboratory at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1971 (Gregory Gregoriadis\/PA) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">This work paved the way for modern medical breakthroughs, including the use of lipids in mRNA Covid vaccines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In 2021, Prof Gregoriadis said he found it \u201cvery satisfying\u201d that the work he and his colleague carried out half a century ago had played a role in the development of coronavirus vaccines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Prof Gregoriadis told the Press Association at the time: \u201cWhen you are a scientist, you tend to ignore the emotional part of it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m proud that the vaccine technology has its origins in the work we first carried out in London 50 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Prof Gregoriadis died on Friday at a care home in Brighton. Born in Athens, Greece, he was a UK resident for more than 50 years, and also held a Canadian passport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A statement from his family said: \u201cWe are immensely proud of his scientific work, which means he leaves a great legacy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cJust as importantly to us he was very much a family man and kind and charismatic figure who impacted many lives both directly and indirectly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He was Professor Emeritus at the UCL School of Pharmacy (formerly the London School of Pharmacy) and held a Doctor of Science degree from the University of London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A scientist whose work more than 50 years ago laid the foundations for Covid vaccines has died aged&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[145265,10503,9413,18,135,19,17,145266,145267,145268,145269,133,94913,82,1294,145270],"class_list":{"0":"post-291255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-brenda-ryman","9":"tag-covid","10":"tag-death","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-liposomes","16":"tag-mrna-vaccines","17":"tag-professor-gregory-gregoriadis","18":"tag-royal-free-hospital-school-of-medicine","19":"tag-science","20":"tag-south-east","21":"tag-technology","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-vaccine-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115917698334678512","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}