A recent unprecedented outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV) in the Americas has been associated with microcephaly and other congenital malformations in infants as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults. The development of a safe and effective ZIKV vaccine is therefore an urgent global health priority. Promising data from preclinical vaccine studies in mice and monkeys suggest that an effective vaccine will likely be possible, but important scientific challenges remain. Here we review the current state of ZIKV vaccine development. We discuss different vaccination strategies and we highlight challenges facing clinical evaluation of ZIKV vaccine candidates.

There are many ways to measure the accomplishments of a scientist, such as papers and books published, citations, and prestige of journals published in, but we rarely gather information that allows us to evaluate the variety of influences that individual scientists have on the careers of others. Dan H. Yaalon was one of the most accomplished pedologists of the 20th and early 21st centuries. In this paper we gather personal testimonials of the impact Yaalon had on scientists working in the areas of interest to Yaalon. This allows us to qualitatively evaluate the impact of an influential scientist on his field through the ways that he influenced the career choices of others. We found that this influence occurred through 1) personal, face-to-face contact, 2) written correspondence between Yaalon and other scientists, both through letters and through email, and 3) Yaalon's written record itself, without any direct, personal interaction between Yaalon and the other scientists. This influence took place over multiple generations of scientists, ranging from individuals who are currently retired to those who are just now in the very early stages of their scientific careers. The Yaalon example makes clear how successful scientists make significant contributions to their fields of interest well beyond those indicated by commonly used measures. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.