Dr Paul Stickings joined the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in 2005 where he leads the Toxins Group at the institute and was appointed as interim Head of Bacteriology in 2019. Paul has extensive experience in the control and standardisation of vaccines, toxins and antitoxins. His research interests have focused on development of cell based and immunological assays to support evaluation of bacterial toxins, antitoxins and vaccines, as well as development of novel therapeutics for infectious disease. He is always interested to hear from potential collaborators on these topics and can be contacted by email.
Paul works with a number of International Stakeholders involved in standardization and regulation of biological medicines: he is a member of the European Pharmacopoeia Commission Expert Group on Vaccines and Sera, the United States Pharmacopoeia Complex Biologics & Vaccines Expert Committee and acts as a temporary adviser to the World Health Organization on vaccine control and standardization. Paul has led or contributed to the drafting a number of WHO vaccine guidelines and has managed multiple projects leading to the establishment of WHO International Standards.
Recent publications
Duralliu A, Matejtschuk P, Stickings P, et. al. The Influence of Moisture Content and Temperature on the Long-Term Storage Stability of Freeze-Dried High Concentration Immunoglobulin G (IgG). Pharmaceutics. 2020;12(4).
Wenzel EV, Bosnak M, Tierney R, Schubert M, Brown J, Dubel S, et al. Human antibodies neutralizing diphtheria toxin in vitro and in vivo. Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):571.
Riches-Duit R, Hassall L, Rigsby P, Stickings P. Evaluation of a capture antigen ELISA for the characterisation of tetanus vaccines for veterinary use. Biologicals 2019; 61:8-14.
Aleksander Rust, Ciara Doran, Rosalyn Hart, et. al. A Cell Line for Detection of Botulinum Neurotoxin type B. Frontiers in Pharmacology, section Integrative and Regenerative Pharmacology. 2017. Nov 9; 8:796
Yadirgi G, Stickings P, Rajagopal S, Liu Y, Sesardic D. Immuno-detection of cleaved SNAP-25 from differentiated mouse embryonic stem cells provides a sensitive assay for determination of botulinum A toxin and antitoxin potency. J Immunol Methods. 2017 Dec; 451: 90-99
Bak N, Rajagopal S, Stickings P, Sesardic D. SiMa Cells for a Serotype Specific and Sensitive Cell-Based Neutralization Test for Botulinum Toxin A and E. Toxins (Basel). 2017 Jul 20;9(7). pii: E230
Schutte K, Szczepanska A, Halder M, et. al. Modern science for better quality control of medicinal products "Towards global harmonization of 3Rs in biologicals": The report of an EPAA workshop. Biologicals. 2017 Jun 5. pii: S1045-1056(17)
Laura Coombes, Peter Rigsby, Dorothea Sesardic and Paul Stickings. Collaborative study for the calibration of a replacement International Standard for Diphtheria Toxoid for use in Flocculation Test. Biologicals. 2016 Nov;44(6):556-566
Hugues Beaufrere, Delphine Laniesse, Paul Stickings, et. al. Generalized Tetanus in a Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) with Pododermatitis. Avian Dis. 2016 Dec;60(4):850-855
Stickings P, Rigsby P, Coombes L, von Hunolstein C, et. al. Calibration and commutability assessment of the 1st International Standard for Diphtheria Antitoxin Human. Biologicals. 2013 Nov; 41(6):384-92
Coombes L, Tierney R, Rigsby P, Sesardic D, Stickings P. In vitro antigen ELISA for quality control of tetanus vaccines. Biologicals. 2012 Nov; 40(6):466-72
Paul Stickings, Peter Rigsby, Laura Coombes, et. al. Animal Refinement and Reduction: Alternative Approaches for Potency Testing of Diphtheria and Tetanus Vaccines. Procedia in Vaccinology 2011, vol 5: 200-212
Tierney R, Stickings P, Hockley J, et. al. Collaborative study for the calibration of a replacement International Standard for Tetanus Toxoid Adsorbed. Biologicals. 2011 Nov; 39(6):404-16
Stickings P, Rigsby P, Coombes L, et. al. Collaborative study for the calibration of a replacement international standard for diphtheria toxoid adsorbed. Biologicals. 2010 Sep; 38(5):529-38
Di Giovine P, Pinto A, Olander RM, Sesardic D, Stickings P, et. al. External quality assessment for the determination of diphtheria antitoxin in human serum. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2010 Aug; 17(8):1282-90