Viral sensitizer technology for increasing yield of vaccines produced in cell culture

接种疫苗是预防人类致命疾病的最有效方法。尽管如此，全球疫苗接种覆盖率仍然是公共卫生的一个挑战和关切。 最大限度地扩大这一覆盖面的一个主要障碍仍然是及时可靠地生产足够剂量疫苗的能力。2009年H1N1大流行疫苗接种运动和最近安哥拉的黄热病危机的缺点突出了这一点（但不限于此）。作为解决方案，我们发现并开发了病毒致敏剂技术（VST），这是一种不断增长的化合物集合，有可能改善工业规模的疫苗生产，而几乎不增加基础设施成本。我们已经成功地证明，VST可以提高超过10倍的病毒疫苗的生产。因此，我们与疫苗生产领域的全球领导者赛诺菲巴斯德（Sanofi Pasteur）等公司合作，评估VST对其部分产品的影响。基于有希望的结果，我们现在的目标是确定VST是否可以促进流感，轮状病毒和黄热病病毒疫苗的生产。具体而言，我们的目标是（1）评估VST对流感病毒、轮状病毒和黄热病疫苗株细胞培养产量的影响（2）确定VST工业化/规模化实施的最佳配方和（3）评估所得疫苗的质量。为了实现这一目标，我们经验丰富的团队将开发新的高通量检测方法，以快速识别有前途的病毒致敏剂制剂。我们将与Sanofi Pasteur合作，在规模扩大过程中实施VST。同时，我们将合成病毒致敏剂的小分子衍生物，我们将使用这些衍生物开发质谱方法来跟踪病毒致敏剂，鉴定其代谢产物，并在疫苗生产过程中跟踪它们。短期内，该项目将帮助加拿大培训30多名高素质人才。从长远来看，我们预计VST将降低成本并增加全球疫苗的可用性。赛诺菲巴斯德是一家在加拿大拥有主要研发业务的全球企业，是这一努力的战略合作伙伴，将最大限度地发挥技术和经济影响。

Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent deadly human diseases. Despite this, global vaccination coverage continues to be a challenge and concern for public health. A major barrier to maximizing this coverage remains the ability to reliably produce sufficient vaccine doses in a timely manner. This is highlighted (but not restricted to) the shortcomings of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 vaccination campaign and the more recent Yellow Fever crisis in Angola. As a solution to this, we have discovered and developed viral sensitizer technology (VST), a growing collection of compounds with the potential to improve industrial-scale vaccine production with little to no added infrastructure costs. We have successfully demonstrated that VST can enhance by over 10-fold the production of viral vaccines. As a result, we have entered into collaborations with companies such as Sanofi Pasteur, a world leader in vaccine manufacturing, to evaluate the impact of VST for some of their products. Based on promising results, we now aim to determine whether VST can boost the production of Influenza, Rotavirus, and Yellow Fever virus vaccines. Specifically, we aim to (1) evaluate VST impact on yields from cell-based culture of Influenza, Rotavirus, and Yellow Fever vaccine strains (2) determine the optimal formulation for VST industrial/scale-up implementation and (3) assess the quality of the resulting vaccine. To achieve this, our experienced team will develop novel high throughput assays to rapidly identify promising viral sensitizer formulations. We will work with Sanofi Pasteur to implement VST in scale-up processes. In parallel, we will synthesize small molecule derivatives of viral sensitizers that we will use to develop mass spectrometry methods to track viral sensitizers, identify their metabolites, and follow them through the vaccine manufacturing process. Short term, this project will help train upwards of 30 highly qualified personnel in Canada. Long term, we expect that VST will reduce the cost and increase the availability of vaccines globally. Sanofi Pasteur, a global player with major R&D presence in Canada, is a strategic partner in this endeavour that will maximize technological and economic impacts.