Leveraging Platforms to Create Vaccines
at Pandemic Speed

In this GEN webinar, we will learn about the University of Queensland’s rapid development of a vaccine candidate for COVID-19. As part of this inspiring story, we will outline the role Lonza’s GS Xceed^® system played in this project.

The University of Queensland (UQ) received support from the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in early 2019 as seed funding to establish a rapid response vaccine pipeline based on the “Molecular Clamp”. The Molecular Clamp is a broadly applicable platform technology that facilitates recombinant expression of viral glycoproteins in subunit form without loss of native antigenicity. The molecular clamp efficiently stabilizes soluble viral fusion proteins in their native trimeric ‘pre-fusion’ form. This form is equivalent to that expressed on the virion surface and the principle target for a protective neutralizing antibody response. Since Jan 2020, working alongside CEPI and a team of Australian and International collaborators, the UQ team shifted its Molecular Clamp rapid response program to development of a vaccine candidate for COVID-19. The team moved rapidly through pre-clinical testing and are currently completing early phase clinical studies. The UQ also partnered with CSL, who are currently advancing both large-scale manufacturing and pivotal stage clinical development for widespread distribution and use.

A live Q&A session followed the presentation, offering you a chance to pose questions to our expert panelist.