I-Corps: SwiftVax - A Green Manufacturing Platform for Faster, Cheaper, and Scalable Vaccine Manufacturing

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The proposed manufacturing platform is a technology that enables the use of nontransgenic tobacco plants as biofactories of vaccines, and takes advantage of 3 different biological systems working in synergy: (1) Agrobacterium tumefaciens for effective transfer of DNA that codes for the vaccine of interest; (2) Plant virus for increased vaccine yield; (3) Non-transgenic tobacco plants as hosts for vaccine synthesis. Using tobacco as vaccine biofactories, instead of traditional manufacturing processes, is potentially significant. Capital and operating costs can be significantly reduced, up to 90%, while vaccine development time is reduced from months to weeks. The proposed technology represents an emerging trend within the biotechnology industry. FDA is now willing to approve therapeutics manufactured in non-traditional production systems that are "biobetter". Biobetter means faster, more efficient, substantially cheaper, and greener; compared to traditional technologies. The proposing team has deep experience in this field, and recent developments in optimization approaches from the group, and others, have positioned this technology on the brink of commercialization and significant societal impact.Epidemics of recent emerging infectious diseases, such as the H1N1 pandemic, demand cost-efficient and scalable production technologies that can rapidly deliver effective therapeutics into the clinical setting. The mission of this proof-of-concept is to bring the rapid, scalable, and cost-efficient vaccine manufacturing capabilities of the technology platform outside of the research lab and closer to the market. This technology can impact diverse markets such as proteins for research use, as well as veterinary and human vaccines, and can improve the quality and affordability of animal and human health globally. Successful validation and commercialization of this manufacturing platform for recombinant proteins as reagents and/or diagnostics would demonstrate the production platform and open up new markets, which were not cost effective with previous biomanufacturing practices.