The original VaxHub was formed in 2018 under the name ‘Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub’ with the mission of securing the supply of essential vaccines and making the UK the global centre for integrated discovery through to bioprocess manufacture of next-generation vaccines.
Funded by the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), managed by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Co-directed by Professor Martina Micheletti at UCL Biochemical Engineering and Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert at the University of Oxford, the hub created a consortium of partners and led an ambitious programme of innovative research to meet the challenges of developing, scaling-up and manufacturing vaccines.
With its conclusion in August 2023, and the launch of two new hubs, VaxHub Sustainable and VaxHub Global, we now refer to this initiative as ‘Vax-Hub 1’ and keep its legacy as a robust basis for the work ahead via the new initiatives.
Advancements in Adenovirus Vectored Vaccines
The University of Oxford’s research through VaxHub has significantly enhanced scientific understanding of manufacturing and storing chimpanzee adenovirus vectored vaccines. This research has had a substantial real-world impact, demonstrated by the production of over three billion doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine using methods developed by VaxHub. This vaccine saved over six million lives in its first year and benefited 180 countries, including the UK.
Key Contributions to Rabies Vaccine Development
The VaxHub’s development of vaccine manufacturing processes has been crucial to the successful production of a rabies vaccine developed by the University of Oxford. While preclinical development, the manufacturing run, and clinical trials were funded by other sources, VaxHub’s work was instrumental in informing the manufacturing process. This collaboration has been a key factor in the success of our overall rabies vaccine program.
Advances in Poliovirus VLPs Production
Research at the University of Leeds has identified multiple purification strategies to scale up the current laboratory protocol for poliovirus virus-like particles (VLPs). These strategies effectively remove contaminant proteins on a small scale and are compatible with current industrial methods. Additionally, Leeds has initiated an investigation of needle-free immunisation routes for poliovirus VLPs, in collaboration with UCL. The development of methods to detect IgG/IgA has successfully identified poliovirus-specific antibodies in the positive control group immunised with the current inactivated vaccine.
At the heart of Vax-Hub’s mission, we fostered numerous impactful collaborations. A standout example was the partnership between UCL and PT Biofarma (Indonesia), funded by the Hub, which focused on developing and transferring technology for cutting-edge VLP vaccines targeting Dengue fever and COVID-19.
The project demonstrated the versatility of using Komagataella phaffii platform to produce soluble vaccines (S1 SARS-CoV-2 RBD antigen) as well as nanoparticles (dengue Virus like particles (VLPS)). Within a year, culture optimisation using Design of Experiment (DoE) approaches in small-scale bioreactors for both vaccines was completed at UCL and successfully transferred to PT Biofarma, scaling up a COVID-19 vaccine prototype. Additionally, a simplified purification method for the COVID-19 vaccine prototype was developed using affinity chromatography, and an alternative biophysical characterisation method for the Dengue vaccine prototype was created.
These research outcomes laid the foundation for the industrial production of COVID-19 and Dengue vaccines, supporting Indonesia in achieving vaccine production self-sufficiency in future pandemic scenarios.
More examples of collaborative projects are showcased in the Webinar Series
Published in October 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, these two reports delve into the discovery and manufacturing of vaccines, and address the challenges anticipated in deploying a COVID-19 vaccine to the global population.
Contributors: Prof Martina Micheletti, former co-director of Vax-Hub; Dr. Stephen Morris, former research fellow in vaccine process analytics at Vax-Hub; Dr. Penny Carmichael, former policy engagement specialist at Vax-Hub.
