Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children worldwide and is estimated to kill 1.6 million children every year. Pneumonia affects children and families everywhere, but is most prevalent in sub–Saharan Africa and South–east Asia. Serotype 1 is responsible for up to 20 % of invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD) in developing countries and has been the cause of several outbreaks in the African meningitis belt. Conjugate vaccines are effective in young children, induce immunological memory and reduce carriage. A conjugate vaccine against 7 serotypes (PCV7) was licensed in 2000 which resulted in a dramatic reduction of IPD. An increase in the number of cases due to non–vaccine serotypes (serotype replacement) led to the recent development and licensure of 10– and 13– valent conjugate vaccines that provide broader coverage. This thesis describes the development of purification and conjugation processes and associated analytical methods for the preparation of a Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 1 polysaccharide (Pn1) conjugate vaccine. The Pn1 polysaccharide was purified following a two–step process utilising a differential filtration with ethanol. Analytical tests including size analysis, uronic acid composition, O–acetylation and purity (nucleic acids and protein) were optimized and performed on Pn 1 lots. The purified polysaccharide was found to meet World Health Organisation (WHO) specifications.The purified polysaccharide is viscous with a rigid structure that hampers full conjugation reactions and detailed characterisation. Size–reduction was performed and shown to have no impact on the structural integrity of the generated saccharide. The O–acetylated size–reduced polysaccharide was amenable to full nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) characterisation to confirm the structural identity of Pn1 and determine the percentage of cell wall polysaccharide (CWPS) and the degree and position of O–acetylation present.Composition analysis was performed using published hydrolysis methods, however, they resulted in low recoveries and therefore alternative microwave assisted conditions were investigated followed by chromatographic separation and analysis. The size–reduced polysaccharide was conjugated to hydrazide–derivatized protein carriers via the polysaccharide carboxyl groups. The conjugates prepared using different activators were evaluated in mice and the immunogenicity data showed that they were non–inferior to two commercially available conjugate vaccines
