The Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub)
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Biochemical Engineering
Abstract
Vaccines are the most successful public health initiative of the 20th century. They save millions of lives annually, add billions to the global economy and extended life expectancy by an average of 30 years. Even so, the UN estimates that globally 6 million children each year die before their 5th birthday. While vaccines do exist to prevent these deaths, it is limitations in manufacturing capacity, technology, costs and logistics that prevent us for reaching the most vulnerable. The UK is a world leader in vaccine research and has played a significant leadership role in several public health emergencies, most notably the Swine Flu pandemic in 2009 and the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa. While major investment has been made into early vaccine discovery - this has not been matched in the manufacturing sciences or capacity. Consequently, leading UK scientists are forced to turn overseas to commercialise their products.
Therefore, this investment into The Future Vaccine Manufacturing Hub will enable our vision to make the UK the global centre for vaccine discovery, development and manufacture. We will create a vaccine manufacturing hub that brings together a world-class multidisciplinary team with decades of cumulative experience in all aspects of vaccine design and manufacturing research. This Hub will bring academia, industry and policy makers together to propose radical change in vaccine development and manufacturing technologies, such that the outputs are suitable for Low and Middle Income Countries.
The vaccine manufacturing challenges faced by the industry are to (i) decrease time to market, (ii) guarantee long lasting supply - especially of older, legacy vaccine, (iii) reduce the risk of failure in moving between different vaccine types, scales of manufacture and locations, (iv) mitigating costs and (v) responding to threats and future epidemics or pandemics. This work is further complicated as there is no generic vaccine type or manufacturing approach suitable for all diseases and scenarios. Therefore this manufacturing Hub will research generic tools and technologies that are widely applicable to a range of existing and future vaccines.
The work will focus on two main research themes (A) Tools and Technologies to de-risk scale-up and enable rapid response, and (B) Economic and Operational Tools for uninterrupted, low cost supply of vaccines. The first research theme seeks to create devices that can predict if a vaccine can be scaled-up for commercial manufacture before committing resources for development. It will include funds to study highly efficient purification systems, to drive costs down and use genetic tools to increase vaccine titres. Work in novel thermo-stable formulations will minimise vaccine wastage and ensure that vaccines survive the distribution chain. The second research theme will aim to demystify the economics of vaccine development and distribution and allow the identification of critical cost bottlenecks to drive research priorities. It will also assess the impact of the advances made in the first research theme to ensure that the final cost of the vaccine is suitable for the developing world.
The Hub will be a boon for the UK, as this research into generic tools and technologies will be applicable for medical products intended for the UK and ensure that prices remain accessible for the NHS. It will establish the UK as the international centre for end-to-end vaccine research and manufacture. Additionally, vaccines should be considered a national security priority, as diseases do not respect international boundaries, thus this work into capacity building and rapid response is a significant advantage.
The impact of this Hub will be felt internationally, as the UK reaffirms its leadership in Global Health and works to ensure that the outputs of this Hub reach the most vulnerable, especially children.
Therefore, this investment into The Future Vaccine Manufacturing Hub will enable our vision to make the UK the global centre for vaccine discovery, development and manufacture. We will create a vaccine manufacturing hub that brings together a world-class multidisciplinary team with decades of cumulative experience in all aspects of vaccine design and manufacturing research. This Hub will bring academia, industry and policy makers together to propose radical change in vaccine development and manufacturing technologies, such that the outputs are suitable for Low and Middle Income Countries.
The vaccine manufacturing challenges faced by the industry are to (i) decrease time to market, (ii) guarantee long lasting supply - especially of older, legacy vaccine, (iii) reduce the risk of failure in moving between different vaccine types, scales of manufacture and locations, (iv) mitigating costs and (v) responding to threats and future epidemics or pandemics. This work is further complicated as there is no generic vaccine type or manufacturing approach suitable for all diseases and scenarios. Therefore this manufacturing Hub will research generic tools and technologies that are widely applicable to a range of existing and future vaccines.
The work will focus on two main research themes (A) Tools and Technologies to de-risk scale-up and enable rapid response, and (B) Economic and Operational Tools for uninterrupted, low cost supply of vaccines. The first research theme seeks to create devices that can predict if a vaccine can be scaled-up for commercial manufacture before committing resources for development. It will include funds to study highly efficient purification systems, to drive costs down and use genetic tools to increase vaccine titres. Work in novel thermo-stable formulations will minimise vaccine wastage and ensure that vaccines survive the distribution chain. The second research theme will aim to demystify the economics of vaccine development and distribution and allow the identification of critical cost bottlenecks to drive research priorities. It will also assess the impact of the advances made in the first research theme to ensure that the final cost of the vaccine is suitable for the developing world.
The Hub will be a boon for the UK, as this research into generic tools and technologies will be applicable for medical products intended for the UK and ensure that prices remain accessible for the NHS. It will establish the UK as the international centre for end-to-end vaccine research and manufacture. Additionally, vaccines should be considered a national security priority, as diseases do not respect international boundaries, thus this work into capacity building and rapid response is a significant advantage.
The impact of this Hub will be felt internationally, as the UK reaffirms its leadership in Global Health and works to ensure that the outputs of this Hub reach the most vulnerable, especially children.
Planned Impact
To become an International Centre of Excellence the Hub will interact with multiple stakeholders in the vaccine community and ensures that the benefits of this research are felt far and wide. The immediate beneficiaries of this work will be the organisations who engage with the Hub, including UK industry and academia, Catapults, such as the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre and LMIC vaccine manufacturers. The outputs from this work will also assist other manufacturing Hubs and further the work of the UK Vaccine Network, as many of the research topics tie into strategic policy areas. This work will create new and improved vaccines for LMICs, enable our ability to respond to epidemic scenarios and ultimately boost the UK bio-economy by advancing vaccine manufacturing.
The mechanism of engagement will be through training and online courses, conferences and publications in peer-reviewed journals, feasibility projects that feed projects into the Catapults centres, and Expert Interaction Vouchers. These will be promoted through existing networks such as KTN, academic networks, other Hubs and the Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturing Network (DCVMN).
Training and Online Courses. The Hub members currently run training programmes in bioprocessing, analytics and vaccine development as part of its CPD offering to the vaccine industry and research outputs from the Hub will be included into these training programmes. We will offer funding for 10 places annually for academics and industry from LMICs to attend these courses. To address the national shortage of Qualified Persons (QPs), we will recruit two trainee QPs and provide them with hands-on training in user GMP manufacturing facility, and mentorship to allow them to complete their training and support industry needs. A dedicated Training officer will ensure maximum dissemination of the Hub's work, especially to the DCVMN, by creating online training material that will survive beyond the grant period.
Conferences and Publications. The Hub will hold an all user annual meeting where outputs from the Grand Challenges and Feasibility projects are presented. All partners will be encouraged to publish in Open Access journals. Business Briefings, Special Interest Groups and Industry Open Days, will ensure we continue to increase user engagement over the lifetime of the Hub and create the trained individuals with skills to take the industry forward.
Feasibility Projects will benefit all users that are not currently part of the Hub. Each project can range from a minimum of 6 months to 3 years and receive funding of up to a maximum of £100k p.a. for personnel, PI time and consumables. These grants will explore early technologies and help to generate pilot data for follow on funding. It will link to Catapults, such as the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, to test feasibility.
Expert Interaction Vouchers will be available for UK and LMIC vaccine manufacturers. Vouchers (up to £35k per voucher) can cover the cost of travel, subsistence and consultancy. It can also be used to fund a maximum 6-month secondment to a facility or research group to build expertise.
LMICs are beneficiaries of this work, which will improve the supply capacity and cost base of existing vaccines and introduce new vaccine technologies to these groups. The vaccine candidates researched by the Hub are on pathogens that primarily affect low-income countries listed on the DAC list, such as malaria, Rift Valley fever, Dengue, pneumococcal disease and TB. Other DAC listed countries will benefit from Hub activities, as we will interact through the DCVMN to offer training, consultancy and secondments through interaction vouchers and feasibility projects.
The mechanism of engagement will be through training and online courses, conferences and publications in peer-reviewed journals, feasibility projects that feed projects into the Catapults centres, and Expert Interaction Vouchers. These will be promoted through existing networks such as KTN, academic networks, other Hubs and the Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturing Network (DCVMN).
Training and Online Courses. The Hub members currently run training programmes in bioprocessing, analytics and vaccine development as part of its CPD offering to the vaccine industry and research outputs from the Hub will be included into these training programmes. We will offer funding for 10 places annually for academics and industry from LMICs to attend these courses. To address the national shortage of Qualified Persons (QPs), we will recruit two trainee QPs and provide them with hands-on training in user GMP manufacturing facility, and mentorship to allow them to complete their training and support industry needs. A dedicated Training officer will ensure maximum dissemination of the Hub's work, especially to the DCVMN, by creating online training material that will survive beyond the grant period.
Conferences and Publications. The Hub will hold an all user annual meeting where outputs from the Grand Challenges and Feasibility projects are presented. All partners will be encouraged to publish in Open Access journals. Business Briefings, Special Interest Groups and Industry Open Days, will ensure we continue to increase user engagement over the lifetime of the Hub and create the trained individuals with skills to take the industry forward.
Feasibility Projects will benefit all users that are not currently part of the Hub. Each project can range from a minimum of 6 months to 3 years and receive funding of up to a maximum of £100k p.a. for personnel, PI time and consumables. These grants will explore early technologies and help to generate pilot data for follow on funding. It will link to Catapults, such as the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, to test feasibility.
Expert Interaction Vouchers will be available for UK and LMIC vaccine manufacturers. Vouchers (up to £35k per voucher) can cover the cost of travel, subsistence and consultancy. It can also be used to fund a maximum 6-month secondment to a facility or research group to build expertise.
LMICs are beneficiaries of this work, which will improve the supply capacity and cost base of existing vaccines and introduce new vaccine technologies to these groups. The vaccine candidates researched by the Hub are on pathogens that primarily affect low-income countries listed on the DAC list, such as malaria, Rift Valley fever, Dengue, pneumococcal disease and TB. Other DAC listed countries will benefit from Hub activities, as we will interact through the DCVMN to offer training, consultancy and secondments through interaction vouchers and feasibility projects.
Organisations
- University College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Department of Health and Social Care (Co-funder)
- Serum Institute of India (Collaboration)
- Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) (Collaboration)
- VabioTech (Collaboration)
- University of Surrey (Collaboration)
- University of Kansas (Collaboration)
- MCI Sante Animale (Collaboration)
- PATH (Collaboration)
- Vaccitech Ltd (Collaboration)
- BIOINDUSTRY ASSOCIATION (Collaboration)
- University of Arkansas Medical Center (Collaboration)
- PT Bio Farma (Indonesia) (Collaboration)
- Baseimmune (Collaboration)
- PALL Europe (Collaboration)
- MERCK (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- Sartorius (Collaboration)
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) (Collaboration)
- Applikon Biotechnology B.V. (Collaboration)
- Enesi Pharma (Collaboration)
- National Physical Laboratory (Collaboration)
- Vietnam Ministry of Health (Collaboration)
- Micropore Technologies Ltd (Collaboration)
- MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories (Collaboration)
- InDevR (Collaboration)
- Vinnova (Collaboration)
- Synthace (Collaboration)
- Vironova (Collaboration)
- Croda Europe Ltd (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) (Collaboration)
- Huvepharma (Bulgaria) (Collaboration)
- Butantan Institute (Collaboration)
- Phenotypeca (Collaboration)
- AstraZeneca (United Kingdom) (Collaboration)
- Teesside University (Collaboration)
- Univercells Ltd (Collaboration)
- iQur (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- BioIndustry Association (Project Partner)
- Sanofi (France) (Project Partner)
- Centre for Process Innovation (Project Partner)
- Public Health England (Project Partner)
- Pall Corporation (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- hVIVO (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- ProBioMed (Project Partner)
- BioLogicB, LLC (Project Partner)
- GlaxoSmithKline (United States) (Project Partner)
- Prokarium Ltd (Project Partner)
- General Electric (United States) (Project Partner)
- Activirosomes Ltd (Project Partner)
- Cell Therapy Catapult (Project Partner)
- Developing Countries Vaccine Manufactures Network (Project Partner)
- Merck (Germany) (Project Partner)
- Fujifilm (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- University of Oxford (Project Partner)
- Vironova (Sweden) (Project Partner)
- Pfizer (United States) (Project Partner)
- BIA Separations (Slovenia) (Project Partner)
- AstraZeneca (United States) (Project Partner)
Publications
Samaras J
(2020)
Flow, suspension and mixing dynamics in DASGIP bioreactors, Part 2
in AIChE Journal
Gharaei R
(2020)
Biomimetic peptide enriched nonwoven scaffolds promote calcium phosphate mineralisation.
in RSC advances
Samaras J
(2020)
Flow, suspension, and mixing dynamics in DASGIP bioreactors: Part 1
in AIChE Journal
Nannini F
(2020)
A primer set for the rapid isolation of scFv fragments against cell surface antigens from immunised rats.
in Scientific reports
Owston HE
(2020)
Induced Periosteum-Mimicking Membrane with Cell Barrier and Multipotential Stromal Cell (MSC) Homing Functionalities.
in International journal of molecular sciences
Van Doremalen N
(2020)
ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine prevents SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in rhesus macaques.
in Nature
Folegatti PM
(2020)
Safety and immunogenicity of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2: a preliminary report of a phase 1/2, single-blind, randomised controlled trial.
in Lancet (London, England)
Gao Z
(2020)
The facile and additive-free synthesis of a cell-friendly iron(iii)-glutathione complex.
in Dalton transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003)
Gao Z
(2020)
An injectable, self-healing and MMP-inhibiting hyaluronic acid gel via iron coordination.
in International journal of biological macromolecules
Rowley J
(2020)
Antimicrobial Dye-Conjugated Polyglobalide-Based Organogels
in ACS Applied Polymer Materials
| Description | The Vax-Hub has now established a robust internal and external management structure and staff are progressing with their research outcomes, working on the three technologies. Significant achievements have been obtained for each: Technology 1: Establishment of a single-use adenovirus manufacturing platform, this has now made GMP compliant and is being used towards manufacture of a vaccine against COVID-19. More than 1 billion doses have been manufactured and distributed worldwide. Technology 2: Virus-like Particle vaccines production process for Dengue fever, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Malaria. Technology 3: Conjugate vaccines - novel strains have been produced and tested, automated microscale methods developed for rapid process development, scaling tests and defined media studies conducted to progress the technology to GMP. A reliable and robust process for Platform Funding has been established, two calls for £10K interaction vouchers and one call for £100K Feasibility Studies have been completed and projects awarded and announced. Training objectives have also been completed, with more than 30 places assigned to LMIC manufacturers employees for courses run worldwide. Since January 2020 the Oxford Vax-Hub team of researchers and PIs have been working steadily, in collaboration with other scientists in Oxford, on a Covid-19 vaccine. This is based on the adenovirus vector platform. The team has been working to optimise the platform according to the original Vax-Hub deliverables, resulting in a much quicker achievement of these objectives. The Vax-Hub concept and provision has been instrumental in getting the Oxford COVID vaccine project off the ground. Without it, we wouldn't have been ready to go on the manufacturing scale up or have the staff to do the work needed. |
| Exploitation Route | The new technologies and methods developed by the Vax-Hub will be crucial in ensuring vaccine supply at reduced cost: Technology 1: Establishment of a single-use GMP compliant adenovirus manufacturing platform, this is a flexible platform able to work with multiple serotypes which is easily transferable to LMIC manufacturers with limited capabilities. This technology has been now significantly developed with associated government funding during the pandemic and a covid-19 vaccine is now available worldwide, manufactured and distributed by AstraZeneca. Technology 2: Virus-like Particle vaccines production process for Dengue fever, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Malaria. Findings from these projects is in collaboration with companies and aims at translating some of the novel constructs and engineering methodologies to them before end of the grant Technology 3: Conjugate vaccines - the methods being established aim at a new strain and method capable of producing Pneumococcal vaccine doses at reduced cost. |
| Sectors | Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Description | Since January 2020 the Oxford Vax-Hub team of researchers and PIs have been working steadily, in collaboration with other scientists in Oxford, on a Covid-19 vaccine. This is based on the adenovirus vector platform. The team has been working to optimise the platform according to the original Vax-Hub deliverables, resulting in a much quicker achievement of these objectives. The team has achieved significant results manufacturing an efficacious vaccine against covid-19, which is now being manufactured and distributed worldwide by AstraZeneca. More than 1 billion doses were manufactured and distributed. The learning acquired throughout the pandemic period has been shared across the community with a series of presentations from the team and the approach adopted across different technologies. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | A policy engagement training workshop is being organised targeted at post-doctoral researchers which will provide an overview of the policy-making process including how and when to most effectively engage with policy-makers in order to feed into the policy-making cycle and will enable PDRAs to consider Vax Hub research in light of current vaccine policy challenges in a co-design session with policy makers. |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Contribution by Professor Daniel Bracewell; Professor Paul Dalby, Professor Martina Micheletti, Dr Stephen Morris to UCL's institutional response to Parliamentary Science and Technology Select Committee (Commons) inquiry - Coronavirus: Lessons learnt |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/14934/pdf/ |
| Description | Contribution to a report by the DELVE Initiative on key issues involved in developing, evaluating, manufacturing and distributing a vaccine for COVID-19, the impact of those challenges and future strategies to mitigate their effects. |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://rs-delve.github.io/reports/2020/10/01/covid19-vaccination-report.html |
| Description | Coronavirus lessons learned ST&T/Health Select Committee response |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/news/2021/oct/ucl-biochemical-engineering-academics-co... |
| Description | House of Commons Select Committee |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Research evidence on vaccine manufacturing used by Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | Rapid response content is published within weeks to brief Parliamentarians on important research developments. |
| URL | https://post.parliament.uk/manufacturing-covid-19-vaccines/ |
| Description | Response submitted to Cabinet Office's Biological Security Strategy Consultation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/biological-security-strategy-call-for-evidence/public-fe... |
| Description | Vaccine Taskforce Spending Review |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Award of contract for the supply of goods & equipment in relation to the ChAdOx1 vaccine development and initial manufacture |
| Amount | £12,798,608 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2020 |
| End | 06/2020 |
| Description | COV19 OxfordVacc-01 |
| Amount | £31,179,621 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | COV19 OxfordVacc-01 |
| Organisation | National Institute for Health Research |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2020 |
| End | 03/2022 |
| Description | Development and application of an Advanced Glycan Production Platform |
| Amount | £447,107 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/W006146/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2022 |
| End | 01/2025 |
| Description | Development of a Universal Group A Streptococcus Glycoconjugate Vaccine |
| Amount | £403,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 221589/Z/20/Z |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2021 |
| End | 01/2023 |
| Description | EPSRC & UCL-Pall Centre of Excellence |
| Amount | £192,680 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Part of EPSRC & UCL-Pall Centre of Excellence |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2022 |
| End | 09/2026 |
| Description | Generation of virus free polio vaccine: v) to support the industrial production of recombinant poliovirus sVLPs |
| Amount | $917,120 (USD) |
| Organisation | World Health Organization (WHO) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Global |
| Start | 02/2022 |
| End | 01/2023 |
| Description | International Veterinary Vaccinology Network |
| Amount | £80,460 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MC_PC_17219 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2018 |
| End | 04/2019 |
| Description | Investment in Policy to maximise the potential of biomanufacturing in the post-COVID-19 world |
| Amount | £150,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2021 |
| End | 12/2022 |
| Description | Manufacturing characterization and costing of vaccine technologies (MCCVax) |
| Amount | $1,372,422 (USD) |
| Funding ID | OPP1154682 |
| Organisation | Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United States |
| Start | 12/2019 |
| End | 12/2021 |
| Description | Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships |
| Amount | € 224,934 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 07/2019 |
| End | 06/2021 |
| Description | Meeting the UK demand for COVID19/SARS-CoV-2 vaccines via integrated manufacturing and supply chain optimisationUKRI |
| Amount | £448,148 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/V01479X/1 |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2020 |
| End | 01/2022 |
| Description | Rapid development of manufacturing processes for future production of adenovirus-vectored COVID19 vaccine at million-dose scale |
| Amount | £411,388 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MC_PC_19058 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2020 |
| End | 09/2020 |
| Description | The development of yeast strains to produce SARS-CoV-2 antigens for serological assays enabling the detection of COVID-19 cases in the UK population |
| Amount | £48,854 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 61380 |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2020 |
| End | 01/2021 |
| Description | The production of "Shigella plus" low-cost recombinant Shigella glycoconjugate vaccines' |
| Amount | £470,213 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2022 |
| End | 02/2024 |
| Description | USD studies on the ChAdOx1 platform manufacturing process |
| Amount | £235,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2021 |
| End | 01/2022 |
| Description | Unravelling the molecular mechanisms of invasive pneumococcal disease |
| Amount | £1,900,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 221803/Z/20/Z |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2021 |
| End | 01/2026 |
| Description | nCoV: Rapid Clinical Development of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 |
| Amount | £2,174,847 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MC_PC_19055 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2020 |
| End | 09/2021 |
| Title | Affinity chromatography method for the purification of RBD-SARS-CoV2 to be used as COVID-19 vaccine candidate |
| Description | This analytical tool, consists of a chromatography method that is used on the purification of RBD-SARS-CoV2. Being a step of the downstream processing, it will contribute to obtain purified BD-SARS-CoV2, with no residual host debris, enabling an accurate and robust evaluation of the vaccine candidate. |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Achieved a simplified purification method of RBD-SARS-CoV2 using affinity chromatography, which consists on a robust analytical tool contributing for the quality assessment of the produced product and therefore critical to accelerate the product to market. |
| Title | Development of manufacturing process for ChAdOx vaccines, applied to the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine |
| Description | New Upstream and Downstream methods for manufacturing and purifying ChAdOx vaccines at industrial scale. This has been used to make over 2.5billion doses of the Oxford-AZ vaccine (by March 2022) |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | 2.5 billion doses of vaccine to date |
| Title | Fully integrated automated screening platform |
| Description | Automation of preculture, cell culture, harvest and periplasmic extraction has all been achieved in one seamless protocol without the need of user interaction from the start to finish. Measurements of cell growth is included and through integrating the robotic platform with MatLab it has been possible to integrate all outputs created within the process to inputs required; for example preculture optical density (extent of growth) is measured and inoculation volumes are calculated using this value. This integration with Matlab and for the whole platform to be handsfree is novel to the institution and a useful tool which can be applied to other projects. This will be published and presented in upcoming events |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This screening tool can be used on any number of cell culture projects and adapted as needed for different protocols. The integration is novel and can be used to instruct other users within and outside the institution. |
| Title | Generation of PGCT strains for the production of candidate glycoconjugate vaccines against pneumococcus serotype 4 |
| Description | Purposely modified E. coli strains transformed with 3 plasmids PGCT system to produce candidate glycoconjugate vaccines against pneumococcus serotype 4. |
| Type Of Material | Biological samples |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | A series of tools were generated to improve the quality of candidate pneumococcal vaccines produced from bacterial cells. |
| Title | Hansenula Electroporation |
| Description | In house establishment and optimisation of electroporation method for Hansenula Polymorpha (now Ogataea Polymorpha) |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Allows use of this method by consortium members to generate O. polymorpha cell lines. |
| Title | Semi-validated TEM analytical pipeline with defined acceptance criteria for VLPs |
| Description | The developed method, enables the user to assess critical quality attributes (CQAs) of virus-like particles (VLPs) that can be applied in a manufacturing environment as part of the quality control (QC). |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Evaluated the impact of automating imaging and analysis, scaling to larger datasets, and reducing the requirement for skilled operators, thereby speeding up information on product status and increasing accessibility of the method in LMICs and for SMEs. |
| Title | Use of Next Generation Sequencing for Ad vectored vaccine production |
| Description | A GMP-ready protocol for the use of rapid turnaround in house NGS |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Rapid QC of preGMP starting material to enable delivery of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccine |
| Title | Modeling and optimisation of vaccine supply chains |
| Description | The focus is on is developing a vaccine supply-chain model that can simulate the flow of vaccine doses from manufacturing plants to service delivery points where vaccines are administered to targeted patients. The model may be used to optimise supply chain operations, ensuring uninterrupted supply of vaccines at minimum cost per dose delivered. The long-term objective is to integrate such supply-chain models with vaccine manufacturing process models in order to capture the interplay between vaccine manufacturing and supply-chain performance. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | We are developing a case study in a LMIC (Tanzania). The data were collected from websites and contacts with various organisations, including WHO, GAVI, UNICEF and PATH, as well as local governments. The developed vaccine supply chain model is capable of simulating the flow of vaccines from central vaccine store to district vaccine stores (four echelon model). |
| Title | Techno-economic modeling of conjugate vaccine production |
| Description | The focus is on a conjugate vaccine for pneumonia. Currently used chemical conjugation technology makes this vaccine expensive and a bioconjugation technique is under development by colleagues within the Vax Hub (GC1.1.2). Our research aims at comparing the production processes of pneumonia vaccines using both chemical and biological conjugation in term of techno-economics. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | We have developed semi-empirical models of the upstream production processes (bioreactors) as well as data-driven models for the downstream separation and purification processes. These models will feed into the commercial simulator SuperPro Designer. Future steps will entail using this platform for identifying hot spots in the production process, optimizing some of the operating conditions and the production schedules, and conducting a techno-economic comparison between chemically and biologically conjugated vaccines. In the long run, these process modeling capability will be integrated with vaccine supply chain modeling to optimize the whole vaccine value chain. |
| Description | Assuring the quality of dengue vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine prototypes |
| Organisation | National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | In order to assure the quality of the vaccine prototypes, a set of robust analytics will be developed. Those analytics methods will allow the characterisation and quality evaluation at small scale. There is a lack of robustness in commercially available reference materials/Antibodies; collaboration with an organisation such as NIBSC, who will be working either directly or indirectly with materials in various forms, will allow the accomplishment of an accurate quality assessment evaluation of the products. |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBSC will provide scientific advice as well as biological materials which will have a major impact on the development of the analytics for the biochemical and immunochemical characterisation of the vaccines prototypes. |
| Impact | The outputs/outcomes that are aimed to be achieved with this collaboration will have a direct impact on the development of robust analytics for product characterization and quality evaluation,at small scale, as far as the biochemical and immunchemical properties are concerned. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | AstraZeneca Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | AstraZeneca |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Access to QA / Analytical equipment, valued at £20,000 per year Attendance and input at project meetings/ Upstream or down-stream bioprocesses / Analytics / HT /spokes / Supervision of feasibility studies/interaction vouchers, values at £10,000 per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | BaseImmune Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Baseimmune |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 per year . Cash contribution of £1000 per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | CPI Darlington Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Access to manufacturing equipment for validating scale down studies, new and novel technologies and relevant analytical equipment/ Access to QA / Planning data / Database for network building / Analytical equipment / Manufacturing platforms, valued @£30,000per year Attendance and input at project meetings/ Provision of expert input on supply chain / Upstream or downstream bioprocesses / Manufacturing / Formulation / Drug delivery / Analytics / HT/ Assistance with identification of new user companies/spokes / Supervision of feasibility studies/interaction vouchers, valued @£15,000per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Croda Colloids Limited Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Croda Europe Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings. Plus additional staff time contributions, calculated at £10,000 Use of facilities/ equipment e.g. Access to manufacturing equipment for validating scale down studies, new and novel technologies and relevant analytical equipment/ Access to QA / Planning data / Database for network building / Analytical equipment / Manufacturing platforms. Valued at £20,000 |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Establishing the use of microscale chromatography-for downstream process optimization of Group B streptococcus polysaccharides |
| Organisation | MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | UCL Biochemical Engineering has extensive experience in using scale-down technologies for the rapid definition of protein purification protocols. This will be applied to development and optimization of assays and protocols for use in manufacture of conjugate vaccines. Particular emphasis will be placed on the development of High-throughput analytics based on lectin binding for detection of polysaccharide which are compatible with scale-down purification technologies Once developed at UCL the procedures and assays will be transferred to Hilleman Labs for routine use in process development for this and other vaccines |
| Collaborator Contribution | Hilleman Labs is developing a polysaccharide conjugate vaccine against Group-B Streptococcus (GBS). They will provide access to current materials and methodologies for process development. Hilleman labs have provided material for assay development. Assays and protocols developed at UCL will be transferred to Hilleman Labs for routine use in development of future vaccines in a LMIC environment. |
| Impact | Successful VaxHub Interaction voucher application for 6 month pilot project. Value £10,000 Poster abstract submitted for presentation at the ECI Vaccine Technology VIII conference, June 14 -19 2020. Title: Design of a lectin based bacterial polysaccharide assay for high throughput process development of conjugate vaccine products. Due to COVID-19 restrictions this conference has been postponed (new date not yet confirmed). |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Exploiting genetic diversity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for VLP production |
| Organisation | Phenotypeca |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Expertise in the design and development of novel VLP vaccines to investigate the feasibility of the S. cerevisiae expression platform. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in the use of yeast strains (Saccharomyces) and high-throughput screening for the expression of therapeutic proteins. |
| Impact | Successful application to interaction voucher from Vax-Hub to progress proof of concept studies. As a result of collaboration with the Jenner, Innovate UK Rapid response to COVID-19 competition awarded to Phenotypeca (See Further Funding section - "Innovate UK: 61380 - The development of yeast strains to produce SARS-CoV-2 antigens for serological assays enabling the detection of COVID-19 cases in the UK population"). Successful award of funding for Feasibility Study (See Collaborations and Partnerships - "Improving VLP vaccine production from baker's yeast"). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Exploring the potential of solid dose vaccines |
| Organisation | Enesi Pharma |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Development of a supply-chain optimisation model including solid dose vaccines in comparison to traditional vaccine doses. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Providing Vax Hub with some technical details about the solid dose properties, including stability. |
| Impact | No impact yet. Disciplines involved: operational research; process systems engineering; vaccine manufacturing |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Getinge (formerly Applikon Biotechnology) Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Applikon Biotechnology B.V. |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Glycoengineering pathways in E. coli |
| Organisation | University of Arkansas Medical Center |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | We have supplied 11 E. coli strains derived from our E. coli GlycoCell project to evaluate for efficiency fro glycosylation and to improve glycol yields based on reshunting UndeCPP pathways. |
| Collaborator Contribution | In collaboration with Professor Matthew Jorgenson, UAMS we are investigating the role of recycling UndeCPP in the efficiency of glycoengineering in E. coli cells |
| Impact | Improved E. coli strains for glycoengineering |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Hilleman Labs |
| Organisation | MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Intellectual contribution and vaccine development and production. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual contribution and vaccine development and production. Vaccine technology Vaccine upscaling and manufacture |
| Impact | Intellectual contribution and vaccine development and production. Vaccine technology Vaccine upscaling and manufacture |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Hilleman Labs Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, including valuable LMIC perspective. |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Improvement of a Microbial Platform for Dengue Vaccine Production for Low and Medium Income Countries (LMICs) |
| Organisation | PT Bio Farma |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The platform being developed uses yeast Pichia pastoris, a versatile and potentially cost-effective factory for the production of Virus-Like-Particles (VLP) for four dengue virus serotypes as a vaccine candidate. We are investigating the upstream design space to optimise both quantity and quality of the dengue vaccine prototypes (DENV1-4 vaccine). We will focus our presentation on reporting the optimisation of the upstream processing design space for the production of the serotypes, also we will report on both the quantity and the quality of the desired product, before purification steps. Furthermore, we will share our experience on how international industrial-academic partnership can successfully develop tools and technologies to de-risk scale-up and enable rapid response. So far the main achievements were: 1-Benchmark carried out in situ at Bio Farma 2-Identified-uncertainty regarding the location of VLP (intracellular vs secreted) 3-Improved analytics for the biophysical and biochemical properties of the product 4-Developed of a microbial platform for dengue vaccine candidate On-going: 1- Establishment of a purification framework as well as quantification methodology for the purified product 2- Tech-transfer and scale up studies |
| Collaborator Contribution | PT Bio Farma has hosted me at their site in Indonesia, guided me through a run through of their production process, enabling a full understanding of the entire process (UPS and DSP). During that period, I was also able to benchmark the process. Moreover, they have subsequently sent a pellet of harvested cells from their bioreactor, allowing me to begin troubleshooting and optimising the vital quality control assays. More recently we have receipt of the stabilised producer cell-line , enabling us to preform the development of the microbial platform. On-going are tech-tranfer studies for process scale-up. |
| Impact | So far the main outcomes were: A) Upstream Processing Optimisation for VLP_DEN1DEN2 Completed fermentation optimisation using DoE approaches in small-scale bioreactors for both vaccines B) Downstream Processing Optimisation for VLP_DEN1DEN2 (on-going) Framework for VLP_DEN1DEN2 purification (in collaboration with Avitide Inc) C) Protocol for alternative biophysical characterisation of VLP_DEN1DEN2 - Optimised sample prep for the physical characterisation of VLP using MiniTEM (Interaction Voucher in collaboration with Vironova AB) - Developed validation protocol of MiniTEM system (Feasibility study in collaboration with Vironova AB and NPL) D) Publication de Sá Magalhães S, Keshavarz-Moore E. Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffii) as a Cost-Effective Tool for Vaccine Production for Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Bioengineering (Basel). 2021 Aug 31;8(9):119. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering8090119. PMID: 34562941; PMCID: PMC8468848. Planned: 1- Peer reviewed manuscript in preparation 2- ECI Microbial Engineering II Conference | Albufeira, Portugal, 3-7 April 2022 ,Oral presentation by Dr Salome de Sá Magalhães: Microbial Platform for Dengue Vaccine Production for Low- and Medium-Income Countries (LMICs). 3- ChemEngDayUK 2022 | 7-8 April 2022 Oral presentation by Dr Salome de Sá Magalhães: Vaccine platform development using Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffii) for Low- and Middle-income Countries: Two case studies. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Improving VLP Vaccine Production from Baker's Yeast |
| Organisation | Phenotypeca |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Phenotypeca and the University of Oxford's Jenner Institute are collaborating on a feasibility study to improve the production of virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines from baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, for sustainable manufacturing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The candidate VLP selection (hepatitis B, human papillomavirus, and AP205 phage) and construct designs were performed in close collaboration with Aadil El-Turabi in Sarah Gilbert's research group at Oxford's Jenner Institute. They represent a variety of VLP types with potential for different applications. Characterisation (biochemical, biophysical, antigenic properties) of resultant VLP products from diverse hosts will be assessed. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Phenotypeca's genetically diverse yeast libraries, containing up to a billion distinct progeny specially engineered for industrial recombinant protein production, will be screened for cost-effective manufacture of hepatitis B, human papilloma virus and phage VLPs. Industrial technology proven to be safe for first-generation vaccine manufacture will be combined with ultra-high-throughput screening and advanced genomics to develop improved production strains for LMICs. |
| Impact | Phenotypeca has won a Royal Society Short Industry Fellowship with Tobias von der Haar at the University of Kent, which will investigate codon optimisation of the VLP variants chosen (HPV and AP205). Phenotypeca awarded DTP CASE studentship (starting in Oct 21) with Professor Simon Avery at the University of Nottingham, for which VLP expression decrease over time in continuous fermentation is likely to be a study area. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | InDevR Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | InDevR |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Instituto Butantan Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Butantan Institute |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | MCI Sante Animale Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | MCI Sante Animale |
| Country | Morocco |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Mass spec characterisation of Virus Particle |
| Organisation | University of Kansas |
| Department | Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | UCL produce and purify human adenovirus (Ad5) and run HPLC analysis on different samples (received from oxford) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Oxford has produced and purify ChAdOx1- GFP adenovirus and prep VP (full and VP empty). Kansas is run LC/MS on all samples from UCL and oxford. |
| Impact | 1-Establish mass spec characterization of Virus Particle 2-Use Mass Spec analysis to characterize VP maturation process to identify quality attribute 3-Implement process changes to improve VP maturation |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Mass spec characterisation of Virus Particle |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Jenner Institute |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | UCL produce and purify human adenovirus (Ad5) and run HPLC analysis on different samples (received from oxford) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Oxford has produced and purify ChAdOx1- GFP adenovirus and prep VP (full and VP empty). Kansas is run LC/MS on all samples from UCL and oxford. |
| Impact | 1-Establish mass spec characterization of Virus Particle 2-Use Mass Spec analysis to characterize VP maturation process to identify quality attribute 3-Implement process changes to improve VP maturation |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Merck MSD |
| Organisation | Merck |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaboration on vaccine development |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual contribution and vaccine development and production |
| Impact | Intellectual contribution and vaccine development and production. Vaccine technology Vaccine upscaling and manufacture |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Merck Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Merck |
| Department | Merck Sharp and Dohme Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dissemination using database of bioscience companies / Access to proprietary roadmap for software / Sponsorship of networking events, valued @£30000 per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Micropore Technologies Ltd. Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Micropore Technologies Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings. Plus additional staff time contributions, calculated at £10,000 Use of facilities/ equipment e.g. Access to manufacturing equipment for validating scale down studies, new and novel technologies and relevant analytical equipment/ Access to QA / Planning data / Database for network building / Analytical equipment / Manufacturing platforms. Valued at £10,000 |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Optimisation of Upstream and downstream Processing for Recombinant COVID-19 expressed in Pichia pastoris |
| Organisation | PT Bio Farma |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The work has consisted of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine based on recombinant RBD of S protein expressed in P. pastoris (Komagataella phaffii), being the main milestones achieved so far: -Small-scale production process development and robust analytics for product characterisation and quality evaluation -Technology transfer studies to the partner company At the moment the collaboration is still active with the work focusing more on the downstream part of the process, more precisely: -Purity evaluation and product quantification methodologies -Purification protocol comparison with the protocol used by PT Bio Farma -Tech-Transfer |
| Collaborator Contribution | The contribution of the partner company consisted of: -Design, selection and characterisation of the vaccine prototype (sent to UCL for vaccine platform development) -Scale-up (scale-up of the methodologies developed by UCL regarding upstream and downstream processing) -Animal immunogenicity studies |
| Impact | Technical outcomes Phase 1: The construction of a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) of spike (S) protein expressed in Pichia pastoris as a vaccine antigen Phase 2: The development of a fermentation process, using a DoE approach, as well as setting up robust analytics for product characterisation and evaluation. Phase 3: Technology-transfer and scale-up studies of the optimised production process Phase 4: Animal studies for the immunological efficiency evaluation of the vaccine Dissemination & Industry engagement A) Already carried out ? Presented at - UK Vaccine Network Manufacturing Hubs Lessons Learnt Event on Thursday 10th June 2021 (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/research/research-and-training-centres/vax-hub) ? Presented at Grand Challenge Research Group Meeting on the 29th of April 2021 ? Presented at Grand Challenge Research Group Meeting on the 5th of November 2021 ? Webinar to share outcomes with Vax Hub and wider community/industry 23rd of February 2022 B) Planned ? Peer reviewed research paper to disseminate the outcomes (in preparation). ? In-person or digital workshop with Vax Hub and LMICs to share methodologies and analytical approaches for VLP-based vaccine development (E-learning) ? ECI Microbial Engineering II Conference | Albufeira, Portugal, 3-7 April 2022 Oral presentation by Dr Salome de Sá Magalhães: Microbial Platform for Dengue Vaccine Production for Low- and Medium-Income Countries (LMICs). ? ChemEngDayUK 2022 | 7-8 April 2022 Oral presentation by Dr Salome de Sá Magalhães: Vaccine platform development using Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffii) for Low- and Middle-income Countries: Two case studies. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Oxford - AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine |
| Organisation | AstraZeneca |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | I was one of 6 co-leaders of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine development team. I led the development of the large-scale manufacturing process, and the assembly of a collaborative consortium of multiple partners to deliver it. We had initiated partnerships with & technology transfer to five manufacturing sites within Feb/Mar 2020, several weeks before the University's partnership with AZ (these five were Cobra & Oxford Biomedica in the UK, Halix in the Netherlands, Serum Institute of India, and Wuxi in China). The demonstration of a manufacturing process at a commercially relevant scale (through our partnership with Pall Biotech) was a critical element in securing the University's partnership with AZ. AZ adopted the template of 'franchised' multi-site manufacturing we had established, and added further manufacturing sites. The five manufacturing sites which my group had established pre-AZ, however, remained the core of the global manufacturing network - these five sites produced more than half of both UK & global supply of the vaccine. Early development of the manufacturing technology which enabled this work was done to enable production of my MRC DPFS-funded simian adenovirus-vectored rabies vaccine. The work was extended (increasing productivity) using the EPSRC Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (VaxHub) award. Scale-up to commercial scale was supported by the UKRI rapid-response COVID-19 funding award (Rapid development ... million dose scale). |
| Collaborator Contribution | AZ became the global license holder for the COVID vaccine, taking over leadership of the manufacturing network my team had established & then extending it. |
| Impact | Over 3 billion doses of vaccine were produced. The demonstration of a manufacturing process at a commercially relevant scale (enabled by MRC, then EPSRC, then UKRI funding, and enacted through our partnership with Pall Biotech) was a critical element in securing the University's partnership with AZ. AZ adopted the template of 'franchised' multi-site manufacturing we had established, and added further manufacturing sites. The five manufacturing sites which my group had established pre-AZ remained the core of the global manufacturing network - these five sites produced more than half of both UK & global supply of the vaccine. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | PATH Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | PATH |
| Country | Global |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 per year . |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | PT Bio Farma Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | PT Bio Farma |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub including valuable LMIC perspective via participation in Hub meetings, |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Pall Europe Ltd Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | PALL Europe |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 pa. Other contributions e.g. provision of training and support / Dissemination using database of bioscience companies / Access to proprietary roadmap for software / Sponsorship of networking events valued @£5,000 per year. |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Phenotypeca Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Phenotypeca |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Proof of principle synthesis of polio virus-like particles in an E. coli cell free manufacturing platform |
| Organisation | Univercells Ltd |
| Country | Belgium |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Univercells develop novel manufacturing approaches to meet global health demands in the areas of both therapeutic proteins and vaccines. Their vision of modular manufacturing to enable distributed supply of these products would be further enabled by the use of cell free synthesis. They therefore wish to investigate Leeds are world-leading experts in poliovirus and approaches to novel vaccines. Univercells will provide: 1. Design specifications for a cell free vaccine-manufacturing platform. 2. Expert advice on integration with a downstream processing. Leeds University will provide: 1. Sequences details of PV serotype of interest. 2. Anti-PV sera and control material (e.g. material expressed in yeast and/or inactivated virus) that will be used for western blotting analysis. 3. ELISA with N/C specific antibodies to detect native antigenicity following the NIBSC protocol for vaccine testing. UCL will: 1. Perform molecular design of PV VLPs/construct engineering/expression tests: 1.1. Codon-optimised sequences in encoding the P1 protein of one of the serotypes of PV (likely PV-1) and related generic 3CD protease precursor will be synthesised (Genescript services) and cloned into appropriate vectors. 1.2. Expression of the P1 polypeptide and the 3CD protease will be screened using the UCL E. coli process development platform for expression strains and a screen for optimal expression conditions will be performed. 2. Screening of E. coli-based cell free system conditions. 2.1. Cell extract prep./cell free reaction/screen for optimal conditions. 2.2. Examination of plasmid ratios between P1 polypeptide and the 3CD protease. 3. Analysis of VLP synthesis and assembly. 3.1. Production of PV capsid proteins and 3CD protease from E. coli-based cell free system will be tested by western blot using anti-PV antibodies. 3.2. The presence of assembled PV VLPs in the cell free system will be assessed using negative staining electron microscopy (EM) following clean-up using ammonium sulphate precipitation. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Univercells delivers novel biomanufacturing platforms and solutions aimed at making biologics available and affordable to all. The Belgian company founded in 2013, is committed to acting on technology to deliver essential biologics at low costs, thereby promoting their dissemination in currently undersupplied regions. They recently introduced a NevoLine biomanufacturing platform capable of delivering large quantities of vaccines at a fraction of the traditional cost. With the support of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the company will leverage the technology to pursue its mission and make four global health vaccines more available and affordable to all. Following this success, the company is seeking to explore disruptive technologies for application in vaccine manufacturing. Cell free synthesis seems particularly appealing due to its potential to separate the fermentation / cell culture to create the cell free reaction components from the cell reaction and product synthesis step. This makes the concept of distributed / local vaccine manufacturing based more accessible. Univercells will share their expertise in understanding regulatory and technical barriers in creating modular manufacturing facilities. Our collaborators at Leeds University who lead an international WHO-funded consortium on the vaccine will share analytical materials and methods for the polio VLP components and sequence information. |
| Impact | The collaboration it still in progress. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Sartorius Stedim Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Sartorius |
| Department | Sartorius Stedim Biotech |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued at £1000 pa. |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Scaling and Screening Platform for PGCT Technology |
| Organisation | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | At UCL we have developed and are working on the scaling of the current bench scale process of bioconjugation within E.coli. We are developing an automated screening platform at the microscale to screen for favourable cell culture conditions before scaling up to larger scales using engineering correlations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | LSHTM is working on biothechnological developments of Protein Glycan Coupling Technology (PGCT) used to produce glycoconjugate vaccines in E. coli cells. The main research activities involve genetic engineering of bacterial strains, and rational design, molecular cloning, and mutagenesis of carrier proteins and glycan components of the glycoconjugate vaccines in development. Functionality of the engineered strains and vaccine production are tested at LSHTM. Selected PGCT strains are then shared with UCL for use in the automated screening platform. Both partners are working to improve and potentially optimise whole process flowsheet development aimed at minimising the steps required for glycoconjugate vaccine production in order to reduce manufacturing costs. |
| Impact | This collaboration is multidisciplinary involving at its core two post-doctoral research fellows; from LSHTM, Marta Mauri, who specialises in the field of molecular biology ad bacteriology; and from UCL, Jasmin Samaras, who has experience in fluid mechanics and biochemical engineering. Outputs will include: -min. two publications of the work being done -a scale down automated platform for the screening of both upstream and downstream processing steps -a method to scale both to smaller and larger volumes |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Serum Institute of India |
| Organisation | Serum Institute of India |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We are working with SII staff to understand the reasons why some recombinant yeast isolates produce a higher yield of virus like particle vaccines than others. |
| Collaborator Contribution | SII are providing us with genomic DNA from recombinant yeast as well as advice on optimisation of vlp yield. |
| Impact | The work is still at an early stage with no outputs as yet. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Synthace Ltd. Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Synthace |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings. Plus additional staff time contributions, calculated at £12,500 Use of facilities/ equipment e.g. Access to manufacturing equipment for validating scale down studies, new and novel technologies and relevant analytical equipment/ Access to QA / Planning data / Database for network building / Analytical equipment / Manufacturing platforms. Valued at £10,000 |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Teesside University Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Teesside University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | UK Bioindustry Association (BIA) Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | BioIndustry Association |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including rovision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 pa. |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Univercells Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Univercells Ltd |
| Country | Belgium |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 pa. |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | University of Surrey Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | University of Surrey |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 per year |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | VABiOTECH Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Vietnam Ministry of Health |
| Department | Company for Vaccine and Biological Production No.1 |
| Country | Viet Nam |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub including valuable LMIC perspective via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 per day. |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Vabiotech vaccine production |
| Organisation | VabioTech |
| Country | Viet Nam |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Intellectual contribution and vaccine development and production. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual contribution and vaccine development and production. |
| Impact | Intellectual contribution and vaccine development and production. Vaccine technology Vaccine upscaling and manufacture |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Vaccitech Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Vaccitech Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 pa. |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Validation of the MiniTEM system as an analytical quality control tool for vaccine and viral vector manufacturing. |
| Organisation | National Physical Laboratory |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | UCL was responsible for supplying samples for the case study as well as optimise the process of sample (Virus-like particles, VLPs) preparation and staining with uranyl acetate , NanoVan and NanoW. Image acquisition and CNN image analysis of the VLPs was also preformed as a proof of concept of the transferability of the developed method. This collaboration is still active and we aim to fully validate the developed methodology to enable the analyse of vaccine samples at different stages of the manufacturing process. As an ultimate goal, PT Bio Farma, located in Indonesia, which classifies as a low-and middle income country, and other companies will be early adopters of the method and knowledge developed under this collaboration. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Vironova performed MiniTEM system training on-site and remotely. Training included instrument setup and alignment, image acquisition, workflows and analysis. Custom trained CNN models were generated for the analysis of synthetic and dengue VLPs. NPL optimised the synthesis and self-assembly of synthetic VLPs using Fmoc chemistry. Image acquisition and analysis of synthetic VLPs using customised ImageJ scripts were performed and optimised by NPL. CNN image analysis was performed with support from Vironova. Study design, data analysis and statistical analyses were performed by NPL by leveraging existing expertise. |
| Impact | The main outcome was a validated TEM analytical method with defined acceptance criteria for analysis of VLPs . The low startup costs of the MiniTEM system will provide LMICs and the industry as whole, with valuable insight into product status throughout the manufacturing process. With almost real-time feedback at-line and significantly shorter turnaround times for data collection and interpretation compared to outsourcing TEM services, the validated method and approach will offer a cost-effective solution to accelerate vaccine development and manufacturing processes and allow rapid and informed decisions to be made in response to evolving endemic and epidemic situations. Dissemination & Industry engagement -Presentation by Vironova 'Harnessing the power of TEM and AI for rapid and routine analytical insights for gene therapy development' at the 4th annual Bioprocessing Summit Europe meeting (March 2021). -Presentation by UCL at the Vax Hub User Group Meeting (May 2021) -Presentation by NPL at the virtual workshop "Advancing Measurement Technologies and Standards for Nanomedicine" (June 2021) -Presentation of a webinar to share outcomes to Vax Hub and wider community/industry (February 2022) - Peer reviewed manuscript encompassing outcomes of this collaboration (in preparation). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Validation of the MiniTEM system as an analytical quality control tool for vaccine and viral vector manufacturing. |
| Organisation | Vironova |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | UCL was responsible for supplying samples for the case study as well as optimise the process of sample (Virus-like particles, VLPs) preparation and staining with uranyl acetate , NanoVan and NanoW. Image acquisition and CNN image analysis of the VLPs was also preformed as a proof of concept of the transferability of the developed method. This collaboration is still active and we aim to fully validate the developed methodology to enable the analyse of vaccine samples at different stages of the manufacturing process. As an ultimate goal, PT Bio Farma, located in Indonesia, which classifies as a low-and middle income country, and other companies will be early adopters of the method and knowledge developed under this collaboration. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Vironova performed MiniTEM system training on-site and remotely. Training included instrument setup and alignment, image acquisition, workflows and analysis. Custom trained CNN models were generated for the analysis of synthetic and dengue VLPs. NPL optimised the synthesis and self-assembly of synthetic VLPs using Fmoc chemistry. Image acquisition and analysis of synthetic VLPs using customised ImageJ scripts were performed and optimised by NPL. CNN image analysis was performed with support from Vironova. Study design, data analysis and statistical analyses were performed by NPL by leveraging existing expertise. |
| Impact | The main outcome was a validated TEM analytical method with defined acceptance criteria for analysis of VLPs . The low startup costs of the MiniTEM system will provide LMICs and the industry as whole, with valuable insight into product status throughout the manufacturing process. With almost real-time feedback at-line and significantly shorter turnaround times for data collection and interpretation compared to outsourcing TEM services, the validated method and approach will offer a cost-effective solution to accelerate vaccine development and manufacturing processes and allow rapid and informed decisions to be made in response to evolving endemic and epidemic situations. Dissemination & Industry engagement -Presentation by Vironova 'Harnessing the power of TEM and AI for rapid and routine analytical insights for gene therapy development' at the 4th annual Bioprocessing Summit Europe meeting (March 2021). -Presentation by UCL at the Vax Hub User Group Meeting (May 2021) -Presentation by NPL at the virtual workshop "Advancing Measurement Technologies and Standards for Nanomedicine" (June 2021) -Presentation of a webinar to share outcomes to Vax Hub and wider community/industry (February 2022) - Peer reviewed manuscript encompassing outcomes of this collaboration (in preparation). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Vironova Vax-Hub Partner |
| Organisation | Vinnova |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborating Organisation and Partnership under the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) |
| Collaborator Contribution | use of facilities/equipment e.g. access to manufacturing equipment for validating scale down studies, new and novel technologies and relevant analytical equipment/ Access to QA / Planning data / Database for network building / Analytical equipment / Manufacturing platforms Staff time including provision of advice and guidance on the overall direction and progress of the Hub via participation in Hub meetings, valued @£1000 pa |
| Impact | Working within a network of users and academics to deliver the Hub's vision to make the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | huvepharma |
| Organisation | Huvepharma |
| Country | Bulgaria |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Intellectual contribution, vaccine development and production. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual contribution, vaccine development and production. Vaccine technology Vaccine upscaling and manufacture |
| Impact | Intellectual contribution and vaccine development and production. Vaccine technology Vaccine upscaling and manufacture |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Title | IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO COLLAGEN BASED MATERIALS |
| Description | There are provided collagen based polymeric materials comprising collagen molecules and/or collagen derived molecules which have been functionalised by the addition of one or more ethylenically unsaturated moieties and which have been cross-linked via said moieties. Also provided are collagen based compositions and methods of producing collagen based polymeric materials. |
| IP Reference | US2016051727 |
| Protection | Patent granted |
| Year Protection Granted | 2016 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | This discovery has enabled the fabrication of collagen-based materials with remarkable compression and water uptake properties, as well as proteolytic regulation capability. The materials have been tested with full-thickness diabetic murine wounds and found to induce complete wound healing in contract to the wound control. Current efforts are focusing on the design of a first-in-human clinical trial with Scleroderma patients affected by digital ulcers. Although the current application is looking |
| Title | ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/AZD1222 |
| Description | ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, initially supported by VaxHUb, has been in clinical trials in UK, SA, Brazil, Kenya, US, licensed in 60 countries for emergency use |
| Type | Therapeutic Intervention - Vaccines |
| Current Stage Of Development | Wide-scale adoption |
| Year Development Stage Completed | 2020 |
| Development Status | Under active development/distribution |
| Clinical Trial? | Yes |
| Impact | Demonstrated unprecedented speed of platform response. |
| URL | https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN15281137?q=ChAdOx1%20nCoV-19&filters=&sort=&offset=5&totalResults=5&pag... |
| Title | Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine |
| Description | Awards to the Douglas group enabled the manufacturing of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to take place for use in later stage clinical trials. |
| Type | Therapeutic Intervention - Vaccines |
| Current Stage Of Development | Market authorisation |
| Year Development Stage Completed | 2021 |
| Development Status | Under active development/distribution |
| Clinical Trial? | Yes |
| Impact | The impact of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 have been well documented and are internationally significant. Awards to the Douglas group enabled the development of the manufacturing process required for later stage clinical trials, and global supply of the vaccine. |
| Title | Global sensitivity analyzer for vaccine manufacturing processes |
| Description | This software interfaces a commercial process modeling platform (SuperPro Designer) with a global sensitivity analysis tool (SobolGSA) to enable uncertainty quantification in techno-economic analysis of vaccine manufacturing processes. - The techno-economic modelling was carried out in SuperPro Designer v11 and v12. SuperPro Designer is available from: https://www.intelligen.com/products/superpro-overview/ - Global sensitivity analysis was performed using SobolGSA Version 3.1.1. SobolGSA is available from: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/process-systems-engineering/research/free-software/sobolgsa-software/ - SuperPro Designer was interfaced with SobolGSA using excel VBA and MatLab, to automate the global sensitivity analysis. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | - Software used by group of Dr Maria Papathanasiou at Imperial College London for uncertainty quantification in CAR-T cell therapy manufacturing plants |
| Company Name | ARKVAX LIMITED |
| Description | A new spin out company that derived from ArcVax was formed on 20/10/2020. The company won a competitive accelerator award and currently has labs at Babraham Research Park, Cambs and focuses on using novel glycoengineering technology for the development of glycoconjugate vaccines with a particular emphasis on animal vaccines |
| Year Established | 2020 |
| Impact | The focus of the company is the development of multicomponent poultry, pig and ruminant vaccines. The business is supported contract research for vaccine candidate from established vet vaccine companies and further funding is currently being sought from a range of investors. |
| Description | 13 separate articles in the Daily Mail on COVID and vaccination |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 13 separate feature articles in the Daily Mail on COVID and the need for vaccination |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021,2022 |
| Description | 3 day CPD program in Vaccine manufacture for Secondary School Teachers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The Vax-Hub Outreach team designed and delivered a 3-day interactive programme to engage with teachers and pupils in schools to raise awareness of vaccine design, development, and large-scale manufacture. The aim of this programme is to establish ongoing relationships with schools and provide them with useful resources and continuous support. The CPD was attended by a specialist science teacher from Langdon Park School and has resulted in the development of an ongoing interaction with students from years 9, 10 and 12 at Langdon Park. Activities planned include. • Visits to schools to hold workshops on several topics including an introduction to biochemical engineering, vaccine manufacture, and career opportunities. • Visits by school groups to UCL Dept. of Biochemical Engineering to attend workshops on practical laboratory skills and laboratory tours. • Mini research projects for school groups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/news/2022/jul/vax-hub-working-outreach-project-langdon... |
| Description | 30+ TV interviews (BBC, SKY, Channel 4) on Covid vaccine delivery, production and use |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | 30+ TV interviews (BBC, SKY, Channel 4) on Covid vaccine delivery, production and use. Received 100s of questions from general public many relating to vaccine confidence |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | 5 international TV interviews (eg BBC News, Swiss and Russian TV) on Covid vaccine delivery, production and use as well as SARS2-CoV epidemiology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | 5 international TV interviews (eg BBC News, Swiss and Russian TV) on Covid vaccine delivery, production and use. Received dozens of questions from general public many relating to vaccine confidence |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | 5 invited newspaper articles in Daily Mail TV interviews on Covid vaccine delivery, production and use. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 5 invited newspaper articles in Daily Mail TV interviews on Covid vaccine delivery, production and use. Numerous response from general public who have felt reassured about taking Covid vaccine. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | A Podcast of One's Own with Julia Gillard |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Blurb.'Julia is joined by Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, the co-creator of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, one of the most widely used Covid-19 vaccines in the world. She shares her experience of working around the clock with her team to develop the vaccine at record speed, what it's been like to see the impact of the vaccine in the UK and beyond, and her frustration at the inequity of vaccine distribution around the world. Sarah also underlines the need for more funding for vaccine development to ensure we can be better prepared for future outbreaks and avoid the devastating consequences of another global pandemic.' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sarah-gilbert-on-designing-a-covid-19-vaccine/id1466658814?i=1... |
| Description | All-Party Parliamentary Group on Medical Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Aims of the event a) To bring Parliamentarians together with scientists and other life sciences sector representatives to recognise the exceptional efforts that have been made. b) To inform Parliamentarians of how decades of funding and support enabled the UK's broad and diverse medical research base to quickly pivot to tackle the pandemic. c) To highlight to Parliamentarians the importance of stable and sustainable long-term funding in a diversity of research fields, infrastructures, and research workforces to tackle current and future health challenges across the UK and internationally. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Andrew Marr via BBC 7Feb2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Impact unknown but reached a large audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09699wz |
| Description | Article in The Conversation: Coronavirus: how the pharma industry is changing to produce a vaccine on time. By Stephen Morris and Beatrice Melinek |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Article in The Conversation a general interest science on-line magazine titled: "Coronavirus: how the pharma industry is changing to produce a vaccine on time". By Stephen Morris and Beatrice Melinek. Generated feed back in form of direct request for information a and potential collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-how-the-pharma-industry-is-changing-to-produce-a-vaccine-on-... |
| Description | Attendance at Vaccines Europe conference, Berlin, Germany |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Attendance, interaction and networking at the Vaccines Europe conference. Valuable insight gained into the current trends in vaccine development. Interaction with industrial vendors leading to potential solutions for methodology improvements. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | BBC Panorama Oxford COVID vaccine documentary |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The inside story of the development of the Oxford vaccine against Covid-19. Fergus Walsh scrutinises the data that has come out of the trials, and examines the vaccination's efficacy and safety. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000qdzd/panorama-the-race-for-a-vaccine |
| Description | BBC Radio Oxford, Adam and Michelle, 08/02/20, 06:00 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Comment from Professor of Vaccinology Sarah Gilbert on health workers being particularly at risk from coronavirus. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0815vgg |
| Description | Britons on Sunday evacuation flight from coronavirus-hit Wuhan will be held in Milton Keynes, Mail Online UK, 07/02/2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Leading virologists and infectious disease specialists met at a hastily organised meeting by the respected Science Media Centre in London today amid the escalating outbreak. The panel of six included Dr Gail Carson, Consultant in Infectious Diseases, University of Oxford and Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology, University of Oxford. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7979963/Britons-Sunday-evacuation-flight-coronavirus-hit-... |
| Description | Brookes Science Bazaar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An interactive game to introduce a family audience to the ongoing vaccine work in the research group of Prof Sarah Gilbert |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing press engagment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Alexander Douglas and Adam Ritchie have both been engaged with the media on the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine manufacturing process. This includes: -Appearance on Panarama (BBC, UK) -Quotes/interviews in numerous newspaper and maganzine articles (UK focused) -Radio interviews (including BBC radio 5 (UK) and World Service (international)) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021,2022 |
| Description | Coronavirus crisis: Expert warns that vaccine will take at least a year to develop Daily Express, 25/01/2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professor Sarah Gilbert, an expert on malaria vaccination from Oxford University, comments on the timescales for developing a vaccine for the coronavirus: "It is still going to take us several months before we have a vaccine that is ready to go into the first clinical trials." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Covid Conversations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A University of Oxford production introducing the work of both Prof Sarah Gilbert and the Covid-19 vaccine team. This was one of Sarahs first public talks on the subject. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKNavonhXyk |
| Description | Culmination of Vaccine manufacturing after-school project with years 9 and 10 from Langdon Park School with presentations at UCL Biochemical Engineering. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The after-school project on vaccine manufacture with year 9 and 10 students from Langdon Park School came to a highly successful conclusion with the students giving excellent presentations on their work to an audience of UCL academics. Awards were made for the best presentations. The following feedback was provided by the teachers from Langdon Park School. "Firstly, I would like to express my appreciation to yourself (Ludovica Vaiarell)i, Steve (Stephen Morris), and Salome (Salome De Sa Magalhaes), for arranging such an inspirational event. Thanks to yourself and the rest of the VaxHub team, the students have experienced an amazing opportunity to help build their confidence, as well as develop very important skills. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Dengue Network |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Connecting the public with dengue research and stakeholders |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Economist interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I was interviewed by a journalist from The Economist |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.economist.com/international/2020/02/06/the-race-to-produce-a-vaccine-for-the-latest-coro... |
| Description | Engineering Global Vaccine Equity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The variability of what counts as equity, and what form equity needs to take The multiple challenges of replication and standardisation in technology transfer - in analytics, materials and processes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Festival of the Girl: Amazing Antibodies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A short video for the Festival of the Girkl Science Festival promoting STEM learning for young girls. Contributions from Prof Gilbert and one of her students. This was reported as the most watched video at the festival directly and was also picked up for promotion on local radio. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://express.adobe.com/page/ID05WJ9lk2igl/ |
| Description | GQ Magazine Interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Blurb: Thanks to the foresight of an academic lab in Oxford, the race to develop a world-changing response to Covid-19 began weeks before the virus' full devastation was unleashed. What's more, that race was won astonishingly quickly and when the lead scientists, Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert and Dr Catherine Green, announced their life-saving vaccine in November last year, it offered hope to every corner of the globe |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/politics/article/sarah-gilbert-catherine-green-interview |
| Description | Global health alert as mystery virus triggers Sars-type pneumonia outbreak in China The Daily Telegraph Online, 09/01/2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, comments on the emergence of a new coronavirus that has been identified in China. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/chinas-pneumonia-outbreak-caused-myste... |
| Description | Human trials of £27bn virus vaccine to start next month The Daily Telegraph, 04/03/2020, p.4, Sarah Knapton |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Coverage of Professor Sarah Gilbert's research group at the University of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Medicine, which is working on a coronavirus vaccine using the same technology they used to generate a prototype inoculation for the 2012 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) outbreak. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2020/03/03/will-have-coronavirus-vaccine-human-trials-begin-apri... |
| Description | Informal discussion with UNCTAD/WHO on building vaccines production capacity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Informal discussions held with UNCTAD/WHO on building vaccines production activity. Vax-Hub attended the working group and were invited to provide an update on the plans for Vax-Hub 2. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Inside Health BBC Radio 4 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Blurb: 'James asks Prof Sarah Gilbert what diseases will be next after the success of the Covid vaccines. And what say do teens have when it comes to their Covid vaccine?' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010gkq |
| Description | Invited Talk at The Institutions of Engineering and Technology Central London Network, title "When Engineering Meets Biology" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited presentation at an IET Central London Network event held at IET Savoy Place to an audience of engineers and members of the general public of approximately 60 people. Presentation featured advances in synthetic biology utilised by the industry to create promising new technologies and explore how these can help to solve pressing needs in global health such as vaccine development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://communities.theiet.org/groups/blogpost/view/197/121/6828 |
| Description | Invited presentation and session chair for 'vaccines' at ECI Microbial Engineering II, Albufeira, Portugal |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presentation during vaccine session at ECI Microbial Engineering conference and chairing of session, discussion with conference delegates |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Invited presentation at Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing Hub, Cell-Free Synthesis Specialist Working Group, UCL, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Invited presentation on 'An E. coli-based cell-free platform for synthesis of picornavirus-like particle vaccines stabilised by myristylation', discussions on cell-free protein synthesis for virus like particles and other products |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Invited presentation at the European Federation of Biotechnology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Dissemination of research results and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invited presentation to IC-CSynB / CDT Biodesign seminar at Imperial College, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Research seminar 'Bioengineering bacterial protein nanocompartments for versatile biotechnology applications' to undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff at Imperial College, disseminated work as part of Vax-Hub |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Invited session chair and presentation at Vaccines Europe, Berlin, Germany |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presented on "Protein-based Modular Vaccine Platform Development" and chaired one session, disseminated information on Vax-Hub and activities, raising awareness, interaction with delegates from academia and industry |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Invited talk for Microbiology@UCL Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited to talk as part of the 'vaccines' session on the VaxHub, research being done, introduction to vaccine manufacture and about my own research. The other speakers in the session were Prof. Adrian Hill from the Jenner Institute about his work on a new malaria vaccine, and Prof. Sarah Edwards on ethics of vaccine clinical trials/distribution. The Microbiology@UCL domain is comprised of over 700 researchers from 8 Faculties within UCL and partner organisations/hospitals including UCLH, GOSH, and the Francis Crick Institute. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/microbiology/microbiologyucl-events/past-events/microbiologyu... |
| Description | Langdon Park School after-school project for year 9 and 10 Q&A session |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | As part of the after-school science club project on vaccine manufacture with year 9 and 10 students from Langdon Park School Dr Stephen Morris, Dr Salome De Sa Magalhaes and Ludovica Vaiarelli held a Q&A session at the school on 18th January 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Leading a training course - MBI Vaccine Bioprocess Development and Commercialisation 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | This course is attended by research scientists, programme managers, process engineers and policy makers. The course teaches those new to vaccine development or those working in the field from business and academia. • Specialised vaccines staff benefited from broadening their knowledge base • Those new to vaccine development (recent graduates / research scientists) learned about aspects of vaccine bioprocessing • Project Managers, funders and policy-makers gained an understanding in vaccines. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Lessons from the Vaccine Programme for UK Life Sciences |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Covid-19 has been the greatest challenge to governments around the world for a generation. The UK has been at the centre of developing one of the leading global vaccines against Covid, and the UK's vaccine programme has been a key element of helping the UK come out of Covid restrictions. In this webinar, we explored how the Government has worked with the life sciences industry and academic community during the Covid-19 pandemic, what lessons have been learnt, and what the implications are for future policy, R&D, investment, and collaboration going forward. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.foundation.org.uk/Events/2021/Lessons-from-the-Vaccine-Programme-for-UK-Life-Sci |
| Description | MBI Rapid Fermentation Process Design |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Workshop on design and specification of bioreactors and the application of microscale techniques for rapid fermentation process development and scale-up. Course objectives were the following: - Understand engineering principles of fermentation. - Determine power consumption and oxygen mass transfer. - Evaluate different strategies for scale-up and scale-down. - Know about miniaturised bioreactors and their role in fermentation process development. - Understand how to design a bioreactor and use data from microscale experiments for scaleup. Gained basic theoretical knowledge of fermentations in bioreactors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/research/mbi/courses/rfpd |
| Description | MBI Vaccine Bioprocess Development and Commercialisation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I attended this 4-days training course/workshop delivered by UCL members (including Vax-Hub members) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This MBI helped scientists, postgraduate students, process engineers and policy makers to further their knowledge on the challenges associated to vaccine processes and commercialisation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | MBI Vaccine Bioprocess Development and Commercialization |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Workshop exploring critical issues at the various stages of vaccine development. International experts with over 10 years' experience in their field lead delegates in developing their understanding in the research, development, operational and regulatory challenges of the vaccine market. Expanded knowhow and relevant network in vaccinology. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/research/mbi/courses/VBDC |
| Description | Masterclass + lab experience for Y12 students from Langdon Park School at UCL |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Since July 2022, Vax-Hub has been collaborating with Langdon Park School with the aim of increasing awareness among young people of vaccine development and production, emphasising the role of biochemical engineering. To achieve so, this project offers practical laboratory experience - complementary to taught material - which is not accessible within traditional school environments. On Wednesday the 12th of October, Vax-Hub hosted Y12 students from Langdon Park School at UCL Biochemical Engineering. Students attended a masterclass on vaccine development and manufacture, followed by practical laboratory activities and a tour of the department lab facilities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/news/2022/nov/vax-hub-outreach-hosted-y12-students-lan... |
| Description | Masterclass + lab experience for Y9 and Y10 students from Langdon Park School at UCL |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | This project was conceived to challenge students in thinking about vaccine development and production, with a focus on the rapid development of the Covid-19 vaccines. Over the past months, students - who volunteered to participate in the project - have worked in small groups carrying out some research on vaccines with the ultimate goal of completing a research task about vaccine manufacturing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Masterclass on vaccines and biochemical engineering to final-year students in Applied and Forensic science at North Hertfordshire College |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | n December 2022, Ludovica Vaiarelli and Stephen Morris visited North Hertfordshire College in Stevenage to deliver a masterclass on vaccines and biochemical engineering to final-year students in Applied and Forensic science. This workshop provided an overview on vaccines - comprising interactive activities aimed at exploring different types of vaccine technologies - followed by an introduction to the basics of biochemical engineering - with discussion of the steps involved in vaccine production (from upstream to downstream to formulation) and of the various engineering challenges in bringing a final product to the clinic. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/news/2023/jan/ongoing-outreach-programme-north-hertfor... |
| Description | Meeting with World Health Organization (WHO) and the Medicines Patent Pool on the WHO's vaccine technology transfer hubs in Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Meeting held with the WHO and the Medicines Patent Pool on the WHO's vaccine technology transfer hubs in Africa. Vax-Hub were invited to provide an update on their plans and to contribute to WHO's viral vector initiative. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Meeting with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations on future interactions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Vax-Hub hosted a meeting with CEPI representatives to discuss current and future interactions between CEPI and the Vax-Hub. CEPI representatives had a tour of the biochemical engineering facilities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Microbial Platform for Dengue Vaccine Production for Low- and Medium-Income Countries (LMICs). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Outreach activity to disseminate the upstream and downstream development of two microbial platforms for the production of two vaccines, one against dengue disease and another one against COVID-19. Both vaccines to be produced at low-and middle income countries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://engconf.us/conferences/biotechnology/vaccine-technology-viii/ |
| Description | Microbial Platform for Dengue Vaccine Production for Low- and Medium-Income Countries (LMICs). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Outreach activity to disseminate the upstream and downstream work on the development of vaccine against dengue disease to be produced at low-and middle income countries. This activity it will take place at ECI Microbial Engineering II Conference | Albufeira, Portugal, 3-7 April 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Office for Life Sciences Vaccine Project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Approached by the OLS to discuss UK challenges and opportunities in vaccine manufacturing. Key points raised were that RNA vaccines are not necessarily suitable for all types of disease, e.g. bacterial infections, so wider portfolio of vaccine platforms must be supported. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | On-line Q&A session dicussing Vaccines and Gene Therapy with pupils from Edron Academy, Mexico |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | At the end of September Dr Rana Khalife and Dr Stephen Morris joined UCL Biochemical Engineering Alumnus Balasundaram Bangaru for an online talk with his pupils at the Edron Academy. They discussed research, engineering and especially Stem Cell and Gene Therapy and Vaccines. Generated interesting feedback from students and school staff. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/news/2020/oct/researchers-give-talk-school-pupils-mexi... |
| Description | Opinion paper (The Engineer) - Scaling up UK vaccine manufacture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An opinion article in The Engineering on the challenges of scaling up vaccine manufacturing, prepared in collaboration with our colleagues from the Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub led by Imperial College. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.theengineer.co.uk/scaling-up-uk-vaccine-manufacture |
| Description | Panelist on webinar series: Inequality in vaccine update |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presented online talk to Caribbean & African Health Network - as part of their Health Hour series. Aim was to provide credible information to general public (especially ethnic minorities) on the COVID-19 vaccinations. Talking about vaccine development, clinical trials and safety, followed by panel discussion/ Q&A. The event also supported walk-in vaccination sites scheduled over the weekend. Contributed to a further Q & A webinar (Feb-2022). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/_ud0rT3imBc?t=1893 |
| Description | Podcast on polio |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | a podcast and interview on polio |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://microbiologysociety.org/blog/microbe-talk-polio-is-back-in-the-news-here-s-what-you-need-to-... |
| Description | Policy brief on biomanufacturing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Policy brief published on the UK biomanufacturing industry highlighting the Hub's expertise in this area and strategic fit within a national investment portfolio |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/steapp/sites/steapp/files/biomanufacturing_briefing_jan_2020.pdf |
| Description | Policy brief on vaccine development during a pandemic |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In part one of two briefings we look at how vaccines work, how new vaccines are discovered and how this is being accelerated to meet the urgent need for distribution of an effective vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/steapp/collaborate/policy-impact-unit/policy-brief-developing-new-vaccines-pan... |
| Description | Policy brief on vaccine manufacturing during a pandemic |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In part two of two briefings we look at how different platform vaccines are manufactured and how adopting flexible manufacturing approaches is likely to have biggest impact on slowing the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered most rapidly. Technologies to increase manufacturing capacity in low and middle income countries are explored. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/steapp/collaborate/policy-impact-unit/policy-brief-manufacturing-new-vaccines-... |
| Description | Poster presentation at 7th analytical biosciences early career researcher meeting (Glasgow) - 'molecular design & production of high-quality foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) virus-like particles VLPs |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation at the at 7th analytical biosciences early career researcher meeting (March 2020, Glasgow), see below the abstract: 'The foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is a highly-contagious disease of cloven-hoofed animals whose etiological agent is the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), an aphthovirus member of the Picornaviridae family. The FMD remains endemic in many countries around the world where it has severe impacts on livestock trade and food production. Current commercial FMD vaccines consist of chemically inactivated FMDV whose production requires large cultures of live virus and a cold storage chain, which involves numerous risks and limitations. Therefore, safer and cost effective vaccines such as virus-like particles (VLPs) can be a valuable alternative to control the FMD. This work seeks to produce high-quality FMD-VLPs and explore suitable analytics to improve FMD VLPs quality, yield and stability. So far, structural and biochemical information of the FMDV have been used for the molecular design of FMD VLPs and a small library of recombinant vectors encoding structural components of the FMDV is now available. Optimal conditions for the expression of FMD-VLPs in E. coli have been found and first attempts of large-scale protein purification using a combination of chromatography techniques followed by western blot analysis and negative-stain electron microscopy, showed that FMD-VLPs can be produced. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Practical workshop and training in Basic Aseptic Handling. Held at North Hertfordshire College. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | As the first in a series of workshops to give students practical experience of methodologies involved in vaccine development and manufacture this 1-day event used materials provided by Vax-Hub to train students in Applied and Forensic Sciences in the basics of Aseptic handling and fermenter setup. The workshop was held on 17th February 2023 at the North Hertfordshire College Stevenage Technology and Innovation Centre. Training was provided by Stephen Morris, Salome De Sa Magalhaes, Artemis Charalambidou and Ludovica Vaiarelli. Following the session, several students from the college used the learning as a basis for a workshop given by them, using material provided by Vax-Hub, to students from other schools in the Stevenage area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation by Jasmin Samaras as part of 2020 bioprocessing webinar series from Tecan and Valitacell: An integrated microscale platform for the automated screening of a novel glycoconjugate vaccine expression system |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presentation titled "An integrated microscale platform for the automated screening of a novel glycoconjugate vaccine expression system". As part of industry sponsored technical webinar series. Generated feedback and request for information and potential collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.tecan.com/free-webinar-series-bioprocessing |
| Description | Presentation by Stephen Morris as part of 2020 bioprocessing webinar series from Tecan and Valitacell: Use of high throughput methodologies in the holistic process development of a subunit rotavirus vaccine candidate produced in Pichia pastoris |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presentation titled "Use of high throughput methodologies in the holistic process development of a subunit rotavirus vaccine candidate produced in Pichia pastoris". As part of industry sponsored technical webinar series. Generated feedback and request for information and potential collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.tecan.com/free-webinar-series-bioprocessing |
| Description | Public outreach/ STEM awareness |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Demonstrating diversity within the Oxford vaccine development team. Interview with Global Director of Patient Recruitment, Feasibility and Diversity. Contributing to their #ProudToBe Campaign as part of Couch Health's celebration of Black History Month. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aadil-el-turabi-lifesciences_black-history-month-aadil-activity-68587... |
| Description | Radio: BBC Radio 4, The World This Weekend |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology, and Tao Dong, Professor of Immunology, are interviewed about their work on a coronavirus vaccine at their lab at Oxford University. 'The stage we're at the moment is just starting to test the vaccine for immune responses in a mouse,' says Professor Gilbert. 'We're hoping to get to the first clinical trials [in humans] in June this year, and in parallel with that, we would start accelerating the large-scale manufacturing to get to the millions of doses we need. We might be at that stage by the end of the year.' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000fygq |
| Description | Radio: BBC Radio Oxford, Sophie Law. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Coverage of a second student testing positive for coronavirus and continuing efforts to find a vaccine at Oxford University. Professor Sarah Gilbert from the Jenner Institute provides a timeline on how a vaccine could roll out over coming months. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0837w6v |
| Description | Radio: LBC 97.3, Eddie Mair 22/01/2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professor of Vaccinology, Sarah Gilbert, explains what the coronavirus is and how it progresses. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Rapid Response: How Science Created the Fastest Vaccine in History -Science Museum Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A panel of experts including Sir Patrick Vallance and others closest to the race to develop and deploy a COVID-19 vaccine discuss their work in this free online talk. Medical science was at the forefront of the response to the coronavirus pandemic-developing, manufacturing and rolling out multiple safe vaccines to combat the disease. But how did this remarkable achievement happen at such breakneck speed? As scientific achievements go, it's surely up there with humanity's greatest ever-and an endeavour that, thanks to huge investments and global cooperation, took less than a year. Hear the panel explain the process that enabled us to begin bringing about the end of the pandemic by creating the fastest vaccine in history |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/rapid-response-how-science-created-fastest-vaccine-histo... |
| Description | Richard Dimbleby Lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert delivers the 44th Richard Dimbleby lecture from Oxford, talking about creating a Covid-19 vaccine in less than a year. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0012b15/the-richard-dimbleby-lecture-dame-sarah-gilbert |
| Description | Run, don't walk: Scientists are racing to produce a vaccine for the latest coronavirus The Economist, 05/02/2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Sarah Gilbert of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Medicine comments on the process of vaccine development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.economist.com/international/2020/02/05/the-race-to-produce-a-vaccine-for-the-latest-coro... |
| Description | School visits - C Green |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 5 separate presentations to different schools across the SE |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
| Description | Science Oxford Live Lab |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | STEM learning focused around vaccines and laboratory research in collaboration with local Science Learning Centre 'Science Oxford'. Activities were co-developed to target a typical audience of ages 4-8. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://scienceoxford.com/centre/public/live-lab/ |
| Description | Small firms, big prize: the Covid-19 vaccine race The Sunday Telegraph, 08/03/20, p.8, Hannah Uttley |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Article on scientists working on a coronavirus vaccine highlights a group run by Prof Sarah Gilbert at Oxford University's Nuffield Department of Medicine. It uses the same technology they used to generate a prototype inoculation for the 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) outbreak. The university has agreed a contract with drug discovery research firm IRBM's Italian manufacturer Advent Srl to produce the first batch of a novel coronavirus vaccine for clinical testing. The vaccine "seed stock" has been produced at the university's clinical biomanufacturing facility, and transferred to Advent, which will initially produce 1,000 doses for the first clinical trials of the vaccine. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Start of after school project with Langdon Park School years 9 and 10 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Following from the year group presentations to Langdon Park School years 9 and 10 students, of the ~360 students who attended 22 students volunteered to take part in an after-school project to research on how vaccines are made. On 23rd November 2022 Dr Stephen Morris, Dr Salome De Sa Magalhaes and Ludovica Vaiarelli attended the Science club at the school to introduce the students to the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Stephen Morris Interviewed for BMJ article "Covid-19: global vaccine production is a mess and shortages are down to more than just hoarding" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Interviewed for article by Jane Feinmann titled "Covid-19: global vaccine production is a mess and shortages are down to more than just hoarding" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2375.full?ijkey=qOgP2zOS23Zzzi2&keytype=ref |
| Description | Stephen Morris Interviewed for The Guardian Science Weekly PodCast series: Covid-19: How do you make a vaccine? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview on the process and challenges of vaccine manufacture in relation to COVID 19 epidemic. Intended for a general interested public audience. Generated followup media interest, with request for further information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2020/nov/03/covid-19-how-do-you-make-a-vaccine-podcast |
| Description | Stephen Morris interviewed for contribution to Huffpost article: This Is The UK's Path Out Of Covid Hell - And How Long It Will Take. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interviewed and quoted for the article "This Is The UK's Path Out Of Covid Hell - And How Long It Will Take" . in the Huffpost. Generated further media requests for information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/path-out-of-coronavirus-pandemic_uk_5fec8b4bc5b64e4421081fff?... |
| Description | Talks to Year 12 students at Newham College Sixth Form Centre |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Ludovica Vaiarelli and Dr Stephen Morris visited Newham College Sixth Form Centre (The NCS) delivering a masterclass introducing 100 new Y12 students to biochemical engineering. They focused on the production of vaccines with interactive activities exploring career opportunities in the field. Comments from James Bounds Director of Emerging Talent Programme at the NCS "The session was superb because it really opened our students' minds about a fascinating way they could use their knowledge of and interest in STEM to make a positive contribution to society. Many of our students are interested in pursuing a career in healthcare but would not think that they could develop their knowledge of and interest in Biology and Chemistry in an Engineering context. The session was inspiring, engaging, and informative, and the feedback from students was excellent. We hope to find future opportunities for our students to learn about Biochemical Engineering to help develop this interest, and hopefully today's NCS students will become the biochemical engineers of the future!" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/news/2022/sep/vax-hub-outreach-team-visits-newham-coll... |
| Description | Talks to years 9 and 9 students at Langdon Park School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | On the 14 and 15 November, Ludovica Vaiarelli and Stephen Morris visited Langdon Park School in East London to deliver masterclasses on vaccines and biochemical engineering to over 300 students (year 9 and year 10 cohorts).This activity is part of an ongoing pilot outreach programme that was co-developed with a biology-specialised science teacher at Langdon Park School to maximise engagement in activities aimed at increasing adolescents' awareness of vaccine design, development, and large-scale manufacture. Following these masterclasses, 25 students volunteered to participate in an exciting extracurricular project designed to challenge them in thinking about vaccine development and production, with a focus on the rapid development of the Covid-19 vaccine. This represents a unique opportunity for students to gain a greater understanding of vaccines and the role of biochemical engineering in their manufacture, as well as to help them develop research, teamwork, and communication skills. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/news/2022/dec/vax-hub-engaged-over-300-students-langdo... |
| Description | The Future of UK and Canada Collaboration in Advanced Therapies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited to speak and showcase the Hub as a UK centre of excellence by Innovate UK as part of a virtual Canadian mission to the UK to highlight biooharmaceutical infrastructure in UK and create partnerships |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | The Slightly Scientific Podcast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Podcast produced by school children. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/professor-sarah-gilbert-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine/id152714870... |
| Description | The conversation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An article for the Conversation |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://theconversation.com/polio-were-developing-a-safer-vaccine-that-uses-no-genetic-material-from... |
| Description | This Week In Virology (TWiV) Podcast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Key audiences include other scientists and the general public with an interest in popular science. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-813/ |
| Description | Training course - MBI Vaccine Bioprocess Development and Commercialisation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Five-day workshop exploring critical issues of vaccine development with international experts addressing the research, operational and regulatory challenges of the vaccine market. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/short-courses/search-courses/vaccines-bioprocess-development-and-commercialisa... |
| Description | Training course - MBI Vaccine Bioprocess Development and Commercialisation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The MBI Vaccine Bioprocess Development and Commercialisation is a training course delivered by UCL in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The course assists in developing knowledge on the challenges of creating vaccine processes and offers intensive training over 3-4 days for research scientists, programme managers, process engineers and policy makers. The course is taught by experts in the field from industry and academia and is accessible to those new to vaccine development or those working in the field. 66 international delegates from academia and industry attended the online course 2021. The course has received Bill & Melinda Gates Funding which has sponsored attendance of 20 LMIC delegates since 2019, for example from Vietnam, Thailand, Brazil, India and Indonesia. As part of the 2021 delivery, various Vax-Hub members co-organised a Workshop: "Strategies for commercial specifications for vaccines - product quality requirements and process analytics" that sparked discussions amongst the delegates on the topic of vaccine analytics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2021 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/research/mbi/courses/VBDC |
| Description | Training course - MBI Vaccine Bioprocess Development and Commercialisation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The MBI Vaccine Bioprocess Development and Commercialisation is a training course delivered by UCL in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The course assists in developing knowledge on the challenges of creating vaccine processes and offers intensive training over 3-4 days for research scientists, programme managers, process engineers and policy makers. The workshop mainly was focused on adenoviral vaccines production and the analytical tools needed for best quality controls. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Two British scientists in race to develop coronavirus vaccine, Evening Standard, 07/02/2020, p.5, Ross Lydall |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Article states two British scientists Robin Shattock of Imperial College and Oxford's Professor Sarah Gilbert are racing to find a vaccine for the coronavirus. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://eveningstandard.podbean.com/e/two-groups-of-british-scientists-in-race-to-develop-coronaviru... |
| Description | UK Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) Vaccine Innovation Roundtable |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Opportunity for key national vaccine manufacturers and R&D stakeholders to learn about CEPI's work and priorities. Opportunity for CEPI to understand UK's vaccine manufacturing and R&D epidemic/pandemic preparedness agenda and to identify key stakeholders. Increase understanding of national vaccine manufacturing and R&D priorities, participance in regional and global initiatives, as well as national technical capacities in science, development, and manufacturing of relevance to CEPI's priorities. Explore what complementary role CEPI can and should play identifying priority areas to serve as a collaborator and/or connector with focus on supporting the UKs role to deliver vaccine manufacturing commitments made at the G7 summit (UK, June 2021) specifically: Increasing and coordinating global manufacturing capacity on all continents, particularly in LMICs Supporting science to shorten the cycle for the development of safe and effective vaccines, treatments and tests from 300 to 100 days Exploring options to ensure affordable and accessible COVID-19 tools (innovations) for the poorest countries, including non-profit production and sharing by manufacturers of a proportion of production with COVAX Accelerating manufacturing capacities of COVID-19 tools (innovations) on all continents, encouraging new partnerships based technology transfer on mutually agreed terms and in particular to support African efforts to establish regional manufacturing hubs Working with global partners, regional organisations and recipient countries, including through COVAX, to boost country-readiness (for future epidemic &/or pandemic outbreaks) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | VACCINES AS TOOLS TO COMBAT ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | It was an in-person meeting between 27-28 February 2023 held in Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre in Birmingham, UK. The programme was filled with scientific talks, poster presentations and opportunities to socialise and network with other experts across the world in the field of vaccine production and antimicrobial resistance. A scientific session at the meeting was designed to give delegates a forum to discuss the latest antimicrobial resistance research. The programme featured talks by invited speakers from across the world, which provided a great opportunity for those working in the field to share ideas, network and collaborate. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://microbiologysociety.org/blog/vaccines-as-tools-to-combat-antimicrobial-resistance-a-view-fro... |
| Description | Vaccine Bioprocess Development and Commericialisation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Delivered in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), this course will assist in developing your knowledge on the challenges of creating a vaccine process. This course will explore the critical issues at the various stages of vaccine development. International experts with over 10 years' experience in their field will lead delegates in developing their understanding in the research, development, operational and regulatory challenges of the vaccine market. In addition to expert lectures and excellent networking opportunities with your peers, one case study will be conducted during the workshop about manufacturing at-risk with real examples from the influenza manufacturing process. Topics covered will include: • Scale-up from lab to pilot scale. • Quality by Design (QbD) as part of vaccine development. • Expression systems. • Single use platforms. • Regulation and its impact on development. • Final formulation and adjuvants. • Developing world needs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/research/mbi/courses/VBDC |
| Description | Vaccine Manufacture taster lecture, part of a Spring Into STEM lecture series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | An online lecture, attended both by a live audience and is available via YouTube. The activity was part of a series of engineering taster lectures for UCL undergraduate open day. Video description: At UCL, we understand how science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are fundamental to the way we live our lives and shape so many of the things that we see and do every day. Dr Jasmin Samaras and Professor Martina Micheletti discuss the challenges innvolved in making a vaccine safely, cheaply and sustainably and, how technologies could revolutionise the industry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAI3esvcD2k |
| Description | Vaccine manufacturing during a global pandemic: what have we learnt from COVID-19? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Organised a joint Hub event with the Imperial FVMR on "Vaccine manufacturing during a global pandemic: what have we learnt from COVID-19?" During the event, which featured leading COVID-19 vaccine scientists and policy-makers, participants explored the role of academia in vaccine manufacturing innovation, discussed the UK's positioning in global health research and international development, and reflected on the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic to shape future research in this area. Proceedings were held across three sessions and questions addressed during the day included: How has progress (e.g. in vaccine platform technologies) influenced the development of vaccines? To what extent have pandemic preparedness strategies supported the development of a vaccine? What role does local vaccine manufacturing capacity play in equitable access to vaccines and can long-term availability and supply of vaccines be improved by investing in additional local production capacity in low and middle-income countries? What role does UK-based vaccine manufacturing research play in ensuring global health security against future pandemics and how can we strengthen our capacity and contribution? The event attracted over 300 registrations and featured the following speakers: Steve Bagshaw (Vaccines Taskforce Programme, BEIS), Robin Shattock (FVMR Hub), Sarah Gilbert (Vax-Hub) Martina Micheletti (Vax-Hub), Ben Pierce (FVMR Hub), Jicui Dong (WHO), Neni Nurainy (PT Bio Farma), Mohammad Mainul Ahasan (Incepta), Do Tuan Dat (Vabiotech) Additional panellists: Eli Keshavarz-Moore (Vax-Hub), Rochelle Aw (FVMR Hub) Matthew Duchars (VMIC), Mike Whelan (CEPI) Additional panellists: Gordon Dougan (University of Cambridge), Brendan Wren (LSHTM) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/research/research-and-training-centres/vax-hub/vaccine... |
| Description | Vaccine platform development using Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffii) for Low- and Middle-income Countries: Two case studies. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Outreach activity to disseminate the upstream and downstream development of two microbial platforms for the production of two vaccines, one against dengue disease and another one against COVID-19. Both vaccines to be produced at low-and middle income countries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Vax-Hub & CPI Process Development Webinar - mRNA Vaccine Manufacture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The EPSRC Vax-Hub based at UCL Biochemical Engineering organised a webinar in October 2020, in collaboration with the Centre of Process Innovation (CPI) on the challenges associated with manufacturing an mRNA vaccine with a focus on the self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) format, featuring Dr Andrew Tait (UCL Biochemical Engineering, host) and Dr John Liddell (CPI Biologics Chief Technologist, speaker). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/95zEcfmQ_6Y |
| Description | Vax-Hub & MSD Process Development Webinar - Intelligent Automation of High Throughput Chromatography |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The EPSRC Vax-Hub based at UCL Biochemical Engineering organised a webinar in October 2020, in collaboration with MSD on "Intelligent Automation of High Throughput Chromatography for Enabling Wide Adoption of HTPD Workflows in Vaccines Process Development", featuring Dr Salome de Sa Magalhaes (Vax-Hub Research Fellow, host) and Dr Spyridon Konstantinidis (MSD Senior Scientist, speaker). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/t81mzhOXT_4 |
| Description | Vax-Hub & Malvern Panalytical Analytics Webinar - DLS & NTA Techniques to Characterise VLPs |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The EPSRC Vax-Hub based at UCL Biochemical Engineering organised a webinar in June 2020, in collaboration with Malvern Panalytical on the use of Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Nanotracking (NTA) techniques to characterise Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), featuring Dr. Stephen Morris (Vax-Hub Research Fellow, host), and Dr. Michael Kaszuba (Malvern Technical Support Manager) and Ms. Agnieszka Supa (Malvern Product Manager Nano-Materials). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/K4a6JbkApQw |
| Description | Vax-Hub & VAFC Analytics Webinar - Applying Mass Spectrometry to Vaccine Development at VAFC |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The EPSRC Vax-Hub based at UCL Biochemical Engineering organised a webinar in July 2020, in collaboration with the Vaccine Analytics and Formulation Center (VAFC) at Kansas University (KU), on the mass spectrometry capabilities and VAFC case studies illustrating how this technique has identified and addressed both process- and product-related issues, featuring Dr. Stephen Morris (Vax-Hub Research Fellow, host) and Dr. John Hickey (VAFC Scientific Assistant Director, speaker). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/ZL1fPM4_xQc |
| Description | Vax-Hub & Vironova Analytics Webinar - MiniTEM for Biophysical Characterisation of AAV Samples |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The EPSRC Vax-Hub based at UCL Biochemical Engineering organised a webinar in June 2020, in collaboration with Vironova consisting in a full live MiniTEM imaging session and data analysis workflow for the biophysical characterisation of Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) samples, featuring Dr. Salome de Sa Magalhaes (Vax-Hub Research Fellow, host), and Dr. Saba Hussein-Gore (Vironova Applications Manager and Senior Scientist, speaker). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/na_0uiCl1Eo |
| Description | Vax-Hub & Vironova Analytics Webinar - MiniTEM for Biophysical Characterisation of VLPs samples |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The EPSRC Vax-Hub based at UCL Biochemical Engineering organised a webinar in November 2020 in collaboration with Vironova, on how the small footprint and semi-automated transmission electron microscope (TEM) system, MiniTEM, can be used to as an analytical tool for VLPs characterization and what to consider when assessing these particles, featuring Dr. Salome de Sa Magalhaes (Vax-Hub Research Fellow, host) and Dr. Adam Dickinson (Vironova Application Specialist, speaker). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/Z5wmPYFDDqQ |
| Description | Vax-Hub Newsletter #1 - Focus on Viral-Vectored Vaccines |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dissemination of the latest news on Hub research, meetings, events, team and the latest publications |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://mailchi.mp/0b2b3ed513b5/vaxhub-newsletter-1 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Newsletter #2 - Focus on VLP-based Vaccines |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dissemination of the latest news on Hub research, meetings, events, team and the latest publications |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://mailchi.mp/0b47c627482e/vaxhub-newsletter-2 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Newsletter #3 - Focus on Conjugate Vaccines |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dissemination of the latest news on Hub research, meetings, events, team and the latest publications |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://mailchi.mp/62669b232b4c/vaxhub-newsletter3 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Newsletter #3 - Focus on Conjugate Vaccines |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Disseminate VaxHub activities online |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Newsletter #4 - Special Issue dedicated to Vax-Hub Feasibility Studies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dissemination of the latest news on Hub research, meetings, events, team and the latest publications |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://mailchi.mp/0838b64f76b7/vaxhub-newsletter4 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Newsletter #5 - Focus on Protein Production Platforms for Vaccine Development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | I have provided a brief overview of the research I am carrying out within the Vax-Hub. I have provided a description of the molecular design of Foot-and-mouth virus (FMDV) and polio virus (PV) virus-like particles (VLPs) and their production using E. coli cells and E.coli-based cell-free systems. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Newsletter #5 - Focus on Protein Production Platforms for Vaccine Development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dissemination of the latest news on Hub research, meetings, events, team and the latest publications |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://mailchi.mp/a27f5d29d5f4/vaxhub-newsletter5 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Newsletter #6 - Decision-Support Tools for Vaccine Development & Deployment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dissemination of the latest news on Hub research, meetings, events, team and the latest publications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://mailchi.mp/672fe0059e82/vaxhub-newsletter6 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Newsletter #7 - Rapidly Scalable Platform Technologies for Whole Vaccine Bioprocess Development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dissemination of the latest news on Hub research, meetings, events, team and the latest publications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://mailchi.mp/7be3d2d868c7/vaxhub-newsletter7 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Newsletter, Issue 7: Rapidly Scalable Platform Technologies for Whole Vaccine Bioprocess Development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | VaxHub newsletter for subscribers and hub members to get information and stay up to date on the work being done within VaxHub and the researchers undertaking that work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://mcusercontent.com/03089a4a4e0e01d6fafe5e88f/files/cec42648-8a1f-e58b-c91c-f4e1f49b1888/Samar... |
| Description | Vax-Hub Users Group Meetings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | These all-day events bring together Vax-Hub researchers and academics and current and prospective industry collaborators. The events feature research updates, industry presentations, a poster session and networking. The purpose of the events is to share knowledge and build new and existing collaborative relationships between industry and academia. As a result, some of those present have since formed collaborations and joined the Hub. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020,2021 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Webinar: COVID 19 Vaccine Formulation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | This was the second webinar of the 2022 Vax-Hub Platform Funding Webinar Series, which was organised to showcase the results obtained by feasibility studies funded by the Hub back in 2020. Speakers were invited to introduce the aim of the feasibility study they were awarded, describe the methodology used, and discuss the relevance of the obtained results within the vaccine manufacturing field. This webinar introduced the Hub-funded collaborative feasibility study 'COVID 19 Vaccine Formulation' that was awarded to the Jenner Institute (University of Oxford) and the UCL's Department of Biochemical Engineering. | Speaker: Professor Paul Dalby (UCL) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Webinar: Mass Spectrometry Approaches to Profile, Monitor and Localise Host Cell Protein Products in Adenovirus-based Vaccine Manufacture. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | This was the fifth, and the last webinar of the 2022 Vax-Hub Platform Funding Webinar Series, which was organised to showcase the results obtained by feasibility studies funded by the Hub back in 2020. Speakers were invited to introduce the aim of the feasibility study they were awarded, describe the methodology used, and discuss the relevance of the obtained results within the vaccine manufacturing field. This webinar introduced the Hub-funded feasibility study 'Mass Spectrometry Approaches to Profile, Monitor and Localise Host Cell Protein Products in Adenovirus-based Vaccine Manufacture' that was awarded to Teesside University. | Speakers: Professor Jim Scrivens (Teesside University) and Professor Daniel Bracewell (UCL, Department of Biochemical Engineering). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Webinar: Optimisation of Upstream Process for Recombinant COVID-19 expressed in Pichia Pastoris |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | This was the fourth webinar of the 2022 Vax-Hub Platform Funding Webinar Series, which was organised to showcase the results obtained by feasibility studies funded by the Hub back in 2020. Speakers were invited to introduce the aim of the feasibility study they were awarded, describe the methodology used, and discuss the relevance of the obtained results within the vaccine manufacturing field. This webinar introduced the Hub-funded collaborative feasibility study 'Optimisation of Upstream Process for Recombinant COVID-19 expressed in Pichia Pastoris' that was awarded to PT Bio Farma and the UCL's Department of Biochemical Engineering. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Webinar: Scale-up of Bioproduction Process in Pichia pastoris of a Stabilised VLP Vaccine Candidate for Poliomyelitis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | This was the first webinar of the 2022 Vax-Hub Platform Funding Webinar Series, which was organised to showcase the results obtained by feasibility studies funded by the Hub back in 2020. Speakers were invited to introduce the aim of the feasibility study they were awarded, describe the methodology used, and discuss the relevance of the obtained results within the vaccine manufacturing field. This webinar introduced the Hub-funded feasibility study 'Pichia pastoris of a Stabilised VLP Vaccine Candidate for Poliomyelitis' that was awarded to the University of Leeds and the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI). | Speakers: Professor Nicola Stonehouse and Dr Lee Sherry (University of Leeds) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Vax-Hub Webinar: Validation of the MiniTEM System as an Analytical Quality Control Tool for Vaccine and Viral Vector Manufacturing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | This was the third of the 2022 Vax-Hub Platform Funding Webinar Series, which was organised to showcase the results obtained by feasibility studies funded by the Hub back in 2020. Speakers were invited to introduce the aim of the feasibility study they were awarded, describe the methodology used, and discuss the relevance of the obtained results within the vaccine manufacturing field. This webinar introduced the Hub-funded collaborative feasibility study 'Validation of the MiniTEM System as an Analytical Quality Control Tool for Vaccine and Viral Vector Manufacturing' that was awarded to Vironova and the UCL's Department of Biochemical Engineering. Speaker: Dr. Saba Hussein Gore (Vironova) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Vax-Hub-funded visit to the exhibition Injecting Hope at the Science Museum by students from North Hertfordshire College |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | In a follow-up activity to the Workshop held at North Hertfordshire College in Stevenage Vax-Hub-funded a visit to the exhibition Injecting Hope at the Science Museum, where students had the opportunity to learn more about different vaccine technologies, vaccine development and production, clinical studies and supply chain challenges across the globe. Future activities with this group will include practical classes to be held at the College and UCL to allow the students to gain first hand experience in vaccine manufacture. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemical-engineering/news/2023/jan/ongoing-outreach-programme-north-hertfor... |
| Description | Viral Vectors for Vaccines and Gene Delivery Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | This one-day meeting was jointly organised by the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub), the Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing (FTHM) Hub and the Knowledge Transfer Network and offered a programme of invited talks, a poster session and an interactive panel discussion. The meeting brought together ~110 participants from industry, academia, government, sector organisations, to inform and discuss the common manufacturing and analytical challenges across the major viral vector products. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | WHO-UNCTAD working group on investment in vaccines manufacturing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Following participation in WHO-UNCTAD satellite event for the World Investment Forum, a working group was convened to discuss how to enable increased investment in vaccines production in LMICs. This may relate to better coordination and also to substantive and practical suggestions for cooperation. The following questions in particular are addressed by the group, which met 4 times in 2021: • How to coordinate the various global initiatives: • How to advance a regional approach; • How to coordinate and speed up tech partnership for vaccines productive capacity; and • How to strengthen the busines case for investors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Webinar -Microbial Based Tools to Combat Covid-19 January 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our community has made extraordinary progress toward developing a number of promising vaccine candidates to provide protection against COVID-19 disease. Because of the pandemic, we postponed the face-to-face Microbial Engineering II conference to September 19-23, 2021 in Albufeira, Portugal. To keep the community up to date, this webinar will focus on a variety of programs based either on microbial platforms or cell free synthesis. Each speaker will entertain participant questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Workshop and practical training in vaccine Down-Stream-Processing of a VLP based vaccine for North Hertfordshire College students in Applied and Forensic Science |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | As part of an ongoing Outreach program with North Hertfordshire College a whole day workshop in practical aspects of Down-Stream-processing for vaccine production was held in the UCL Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering Pilot Plant facility. Students in Applied and Forensic Science were introduced to the concepts of Down-Stream-Processing of a VLP based vaccine. This was a follow-up to the previous sessions on Basic Aseptic Handling and Up-Stream-Processing. As part of this they were given practical training in purification protocols, including High-pressure Homogenisation, Clarification by centrifugation, Density gradient Ultracentrifugation and Affinity Chromatography. This workshop was repeated on a further occasion with a second group of students Training was provided by Stephen Morris, Salome De Sa Magalhaes, Ludovica Vaiarelli, Artemis Charalambidou, Gyorgy Ovari and Nazanin Owji. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Workshop and practical training in vaccine Up-Stream-Processing of a VLP based vaccine for North Hertfordshire College students in Applied and Forensic Science |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | As part of an ongoing Outreach program with North Hertfordshire College a whole day workshop in practical aspects of Up-Stream-processing for vaccine production was held in the UCL Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering Pilot Plant facility. Students in Applied and Forensic Science were introduced to the concepts of Up-stream-processing of a VLP based vaccine. As part of this they were given practical training in yeast fermentation and protein expression. This workshop was repeated on a further occasion with a second group of students. A follow-up workshop on Down-Stream-processing will also be conducted to give the students experience of a complete vaccine production process. Training was provided by Stephen Morris, Salome De Sa Magalhaes, Ludovica Vaiarelli and Nazanin Owji. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Workshop on opportunities in needle-free formulation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Vax-Hub organised a series of scoping meetings to design a workshop on opportunities in needle-free vaccine formulation. Scoping meetings were held with PATH, Gavi, Unicef, Cardiff University, and Wellcome. The aim of the workshop was to identify key challenges in vaccine formulation, particularly for needle-free administration routes, how these challenges should be addressed for the Vax-Hub platforms of virus-like particles, viral vectors and glycoconjugate vaccines in a future research programme, "Vax-Hub 2". The workshop brought together 15 participants from the following organisations: BiologicalE, Cardiff University, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Vaccine Taskforce), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, PATH, Unicef, Vax-Hub, the World Health Organization, and Wellcome. The Vax-Hus used the ideas generated in the workshop to inform their activities in their research proposal for a Vax-Hub 2 to continue and build on activities from the first research cycle. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/steapp/sites/steapp/files/opportunities_in_needle-free_vaccine_formulation_vax... |
| Description | Workshop on the vaccine skills agenda on the African continent |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | We held a series of scoping meetings to design a workshop on the skills agenda on the African continent. Scoping meetings were held with the African Research Universities Alliance; Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult; Clinton Health Access Initiative; the Foreign; Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Incidents (CEPI); Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing; and Gavi. The workshop brought together 15 participants from the following organisations: Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGTC), CEPI, FCDO, Gavi, Medicines Patent Pool, PATH, PT Biofarma, Vabiotech, Vax-Hub, and the World Health Organization. The aim of the workshop was to identify key gaps in vaccine manufacturing skills development in LMICs to build the necessary workforce for local production of vaccines and identify how a future research programme "Vax-Hub 2" could build on existing training resources and activities to contribute to local manufacturing efforts. The Vax-Hub used ideas generated in this workshop in the research proposal for Vax-Hub 2 to continue and build activities from the first research cycle. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/steapp/sites/steapp/files/the_skills_agenda_for_vaccine_manufacturing_vax-hub_... |
| Description | World Investment Forum digital event: How to promote long-term investment in vaccine manufacturing capacity in LMICs post COVID-19 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | UNCTAD in partnership with WHO intends to build a coalition of stakeholders to promote long-term investment in vaccine manufacturing capacity in developing countries beyond COVID-19-related vaccines. In preparation of the UNCTAD World Investment Forum in October 2021, the discussion at this event will focus on the following question: Can long-term availability and supply of vaccines be improved by investing in additional local production capacity in LMICs? o Who can be expected to invest in additional capacity? o What incentives and mechanisms are necessary to de-risk and make the investment sustainable? o How can international support and partnership for scaling up productive capacity be promoted? The results of this discussion will feed into UNCTAD policy recommendations and technical cooperation activities for LMICs, under the aegis of UNCTAD's new Invest in Health Initiative. The Initiative seeks to untap the potential of foreign investment in LMICs' health care value chain, targeting inter alia local productive capacities for drugs and vaccines. The event thereby links into SDG 3, Target 3(b) (access to essential medicines and vaccines), SDG 9, Target 9(b) (domestic technology development, research and innovation in developing countries) and SDG 17, Targets 17.16 and 17.17 (international cooperation and partnerships). This digital satellite event intends to turn previous policy declarations into action, especially the Interagency Statement on Promoting Local Production of Medicines and Other Health Technologies adopted by WHO, UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNICEF, UNAIDS and the Global Fund in 2019, as well as on the 2016 Nairobi Statement on Investment in Access to Medicines, adopted at the WIF 2016 by UNCTAD, UNAIDS, the African Union Commission, and the governments of Kenya and South Africa. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://worldinvestmentforum.unctad.org/pandemic-preparedness-beyond-covid-19-investing-in-vaccines-... |
| Description | World Local Production Forum: Enhancing access to medicines and other health technologies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presented the Hub aims, objectives and the ways in which universities can support local production of vaccines at the first WLPF held from 21-25 June 2021. The WLPF and provides a global arena to stimulate dialogue and collaboration on opportunities and mechanisms for the promotion of local production and technology transfer as part of health technology programmes in line with national, regional and global health needs. The WLPF aims to call Member States' attention in aligning the production of health products as essential long-term infrastructure akin to food, water and energy as safeguards to protect national, regional and global security. It also aims to transform the spirit of the first interagency statement on promoting local production into practice. Objectives Provide a global platform to discuss challenges in promoting local production and technology transfer to improve access to quality, safe and effective health products and technologies, and to safeguard global, regional and national health security Identify priority health technologies with greatest need for transfer to LMICs to address challenges like shortages, high prices and monopolies Explore mechanisms and opportunities to promote/facilitate the transfer and local production of high priority technologies in LMICs Identify key areas of training that support capacity building for local production and technology transfer Promote partnerships and business linkages in the areas of technology transfer and local production Provide recommendations and actions for implementation by stakeholders The WLPF format includes plenaries, panel discussions, presentations and participatory discussions amongst invited speakers and Forum attendees. Participation in the WLPF is by invitation-only. If your country/organization has already nominated you for participation, you will be sent a formal registration link. A limited number of places may be available to interested individuals working in this area. If you would like to register your interest to attend as an individual, please provide your details here. All individual expressions of interest will be evaluated. As we may not be able to accommodate all expressions of interest, selected individuals will be sent a formal registration link. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.who.int/initiatives/world-local-production-forum |
| Description | Wychwood School Medical Chemistry Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Support for the local school conference with recorded Keynote introduction from Prof Sarah Gilbert. Promoting the idea that vaccine development and manufacture is a multidisciplinary subject. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Wycliffe College: Primary School STEM Day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | STEM focused interactive activity day for primary school aged children. The event was hosted by a high school with students taking the role as science facilitators, supported by scientists. Theme was vaccine research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | magazine interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Dissemination of the latest news on Hub research, meetings, events, team and the latest publications |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |