The Protein Forge

理想的疫苗是安全、有效的，适合低收入国家(即廉价且易于制造、储存和管理)。这些特征很难结合在一起，而且受到投放平台(疫苗的制造和呈现给免疫系统的方式)的强烈影响。能够轻松适应一种新疾病的可信传递平台对于准备应对“X病”至关重要。X病是一种迄今未知的病原体，将带来下一次大流行。这个项目是迈向这样一个平台的第一步。新开发的疫苗基于RNA/DNA、病毒和亚单位支架(工程纳米颗粒或病毒样颗粒)等平台。每种方法都有不同的优缺点：不太可能有一个“一刀切”的疫苗平台来应对像新冠肺炎病毒、结核病细菌和疟疾寄生虫这样各种各样的病原体。增加传递平台的多样性增强了我们对抗真正的全球威胁的能力：抗生素耐药性、新变种的进化以及疾病从另一个物种向我们自己的传播。面对这种危险，这个项目将利用我们现有的纳米技术，它具有许多强大平台的特征。它为疫苗的活性成分提供了一个支架，并以一种高效的方式将其呈现给免疫系统。最近的综述预示着工程纳米颗粒开启了有效疫苗合理设计的新纪元。我们有充分的理由认为我们的平台是最有希望的平台之一。我们预计我们的平台将既灵活又有效，这项研究是展示其潜力的第一阶段。在这项计划中，我们的目标是生产针对各种全球重要病原体的早期候选疫苗。成功将引发与疫苗专家的合作，以测试这些候选疫苗的安全性和有效性，首先在实验室，然后在人类身上。疫苗研究的历史是许多失败和少数杰出成功之一。选择错误的平台会将研究人员引向死胡同，并延误疫苗的开发。我们的工作包将展示我们平台的潜力，吸引我们的合作伙伴，并满足对平台选择的迫切需求。成功的回报仍然非常丰厚。一个即使只允许创造或增强一种关键疫苗的平台也有可能拯救数千甚至数百万人的生命。

The ideal vaccine is safe, effective and adapted to low-income countries (i.e., cheap and easy to manufacture, store and administer). These features are difficult to combine and strongly affected by delivery platforms (the way the vaccine is made and presented to the immune system). Trusted delivery platforms that can easily be adapted to fit a new disease are crucial to preparedness for 'disease X', the as yet unknown pathogen that will bring the next pandemic. This project is the first step towards one such platform.Newly developed vaccines are based on platforms such as RNA/DNA, viruses, and subunit scaffolds (engineered nanoparticles or virus-like-particles). Each of these approaches has distinct advantages and disadvantages: there is unlikely to be a "one-size-fits-all" vaccine platform that addresses pathogens as diverse as the Covid-19 virus, the TB bacterium, and the malaria parasite. Increasing the diversity of delivery platforms strengthens our hand against real global threats: antibiotic resistance, the evolution of new variants, and the transfer of diseases from another species to our own.Against this danger, this project will exploit our existing nanotechnology which has many characteristics of a potent platform. It provides a scaffold for the active ingredient of a vaccine and presents it to the immune system in a highly effective way. Recent reviews herald engineered nanoparticles as opening a new era in the rational design of effective vaccines. There is good reason to think that ours is amongst the most promising.We anticipate that our platform will be both flexible and effective and this research is the first stage of demonstrating its potential. In it, we aim to produce early-stage candidate vaccines against a variety of globally significant pathogens. Success will trigger collaborative work with vaccine specialists to test the safety and effectiveness of these candidates, first in the laboratory and then in humans. The history of research into vaccines is one of many failures and a few outstanding successes. Choosing the wrong platform leads researchers to blind alleys and delays vaccine development. Our work packages will demonstrate our platform's potential, engage our partners and meet the urgent need for platform choice. The rewards of success remain very great. A platform that allows the creation or enhancement of even just one key vaccine has the potential to save thousands or even millions of lives.