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Dr John Wood studied Virology during his PhD research at the University of Glasgow. In 1974 he joined the National Institute for Biological Standardisation and Control (NIBSC) in London and followed to the new premises of NIBSC at South Mimms in Hertfordshire where he stayed until his retirement as Principal Scientist in 2010. He was mainly concerned with control and standardisation of influenza vaccines much of it performed on behalf of the EU or the WHO. In 1983 he had a one year sabbatical in the laboratory of Dr Robert Webster at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, USA.

His research interests ranged across developing and evaluating better assays for human and animal influenza vaccines; development and evaluation of vaccines against potential pandemic strains; developing and evaluating new adjuvants for influenza vaccines; standardising influenza serology assays.  

He had a number of official duties in terms of official testing of influenza vaccines on behalf of the EU, standardising influenza vaccine potency assays and influenza serology assays on behalf of the EU and served on Committees and Expert Groups convened by WHO in the field of influenza vaccines. He is a Senior Editor of the journal "Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses".