Identification of key parameters in adjuvant efficiency

疫苗产品配方的生产在商业化之前需要大量投资。这些努力的成功为生产这些产品的公司带来了投资回报，并对人口健康和寿命产生了巨大影响。今天生产的大多数疫苗针对的是不止一种病毒。该配方很复杂，涉及到添加佐剂，这些佐剂是被证明可以增强我们对给定疫苗药物的反应的物质。在这种情况下，一些疫苗没有表现出预期的免疫反应，这可能与抗原在佐剂上的吸附范围有关，这被证明与疫苗的免疫原性有关。在这个项目中，我们感兴趣的是佐剂的形态和表面化学的表征，并将其与其吸附抗原的能力联系起来。这些信息将使评估显示佐剂表面是可重现的，并探索调整其表面化学以确保最佳佐剂性能的方法。在这项工作中，我们将使用X射线光电子能谱、拉曼光谱和傅里叶变换红外光谱以及扫描电子显微镜来了解不同条件下佐剂表面的状态。将使用各种活化过程以及化学处理来修饰佐剂表面，并监测其对选定抗原的吸附性能。最终目标是开发一种方法学，在生产的佐剂用于疫苗配方之前对其进行相关的质量控制。

Production of vaccine product formulation requires large investments before their commercialization. Successin these endeavours results in investment returns for the companies producing them and large impact onpopulation health and longevity. Most vaccine produced today are targeting more than one virus. Theformulation is complex and involves the addition of adjuvants that are substances that are shown to boost ourresponse to a given vaccine drug. In this context, some vaccines do not display the expected immune response.This maybe linked to the extend of antigens adsorption on the adjuvant, which was shown to be linked to avaccine immunogenicity. In this project we are interested in the characterization of the adjuvant morphologyand surface chemistry and to link this to its ability to adsorbed antigens. This information would allow to assesshow reproducible is the adjuvant surface and to explore ways to tailor its surface chemistry to ensure optimumadjuvant performances. In this work we will use x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman and FTIRspectroscopy, as well as scanning electron microscopy to understand the state of the adjuvant surface underdifferent conditions. Various activation process as well as chemical treatments will be use to modify theadjuvant surface and monitor its adsorption properties toward selected antigens. The ultimate goal is to developa methodology to perform relevant quality control on the produced adjuvant prior to its use in vaccineformulation.