CBQF joins consortium that will develop a new adjuvant for prophylactic vaccines
Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) through CBQF - Centre of Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry integrated in School of Biotechnology, in partnership with Amyris and the American Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), is currently working on the development of sustainable vaccine adjuvants for application in pandemic scenarios. Current adjuvants have some limitations, including difficulty in large-scale production, lack of sustainability, or lack of capacity to reduce the amount of antigen needed in the final formulation.
The GluVac project was born in response to a challenge launched by IDRI to UCP and Amyris, with the primary objective of producing and exploiting biopolymers with immunomodulatory properties, with the potential to be incorporated as vaccine adjuvants against future pandemics. This tripartite collaboration is expected to be extended in the near future, namely in the development of therapeutic, prophylactic and diagnostic solutions for different purposes.
João Carlos Fernandes, CBQF researcher and project leader, says that "the challenge of this project, mainly due to the current pandemic context, is to respond to the need to develop innovative solutions that adapt to new pathogens and speed up the process of developing new vaccines, with a focus on the Covid-19 vaccine".
Miguel Barbosa, president of Amyris Bioproducts Portugal, explains that "adjuvants for vaccines play a key role in the immune response caused by a large number of vaccines, including some vaccines against SARS-CoV2 that are under development. Amyris is developing a new sustainable way to supply an adjuvant already used by industry, and in the development of new and more effective adjuvants". In this regard, it states that "the GLUVAC project will enable the development and market launch of these adjuvants by leveraging the skills of Amyris and its partner in Portugal: the Escola Superior de Biotecnologia da Universidade Católica Portuguesa".
The GLUVAC project brings together a consortium and partners with recognized experience to support Amyris - a leading American company in yeast engineering and health-driven products - in achieving the project's objectives: a team from the Portuguese Catholic University with extensive scientific knowledge in key project areas - analytical chemistry, clinical biochemistry and biotechnology, the partner Infectious Disease Research Institute - a global health organization focused on the discovery and formulation of vaccine adjuvants. The project will also rely on the collaboration of the Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra in conducting pre-clinical trials.
The project is promoted by Amyris Bio Products Portugal and co-funded by COMPETE 2020 within the framework of the Enterprise R&D Incentive System and Testing and Optimization Infrastructures (COVID-19), involving an eligible investment of 282 thousand euros, resulting in an ERDF incentive of around 251 thousand euros.