Bacterial-based vaccines
Bacterial-based vaccines
Optimizing bacterial platforms for advanced vaccine development
Process development within bacterial-based vaccine research involves several important steps. Initially, scientists select suitable bacterial strains based on growth rate, stability, and the ability to fold and modify antigens correctly. Subsequently, they optimize expression systems to enhance antigen yield and quality, ensuring that the produced antigens maintain their immunogenicity.
Bacterial-based vaccines bring forth distinctive considerations for researchers. Unlike eukaryotic cells in cell-based vaccines, bacteria follow unique post-translational modification pathways that influence antigen characteristics. Specialized purification methods are necessary to attain high-purity antigens suitable for vaccine formulations.
In response, researchers are employing advanced genetic engineering and bioprocessing strategies. Their objective is to maximize bacterial platforms' capabilities, aiming for effective, safe, scalable, and economically viable vaccines.
Challenges in bacterial-based vaccine production
Strain selection and screening
Strain selection is pivotal in bacterial-based vaccine development, influencing antigen expression levels and quality critical for vaccine efficacy and safety. Small-scale equipment, particularly incubator shakers with 3 mm throw, addresses these challenges by enabling efficient qualitative screening of multiple bacterial strains simultaneously in deep well plates. Researchers utilize incubator shakers for initial high-throughput screening to assess growth rates and basic antigen expression levels. This approach facilitates early identification of promising candidates, rapidly narrowing down strains with desired characteristics. Following this initial screening, small-scale bioreactors are employed for more quantitative process development. In these systems, researchers can optimize culture conditions such as temperature, pH, oxygen levels, and nutrient supply to enhance the productivity of selected strains. This two-step approach allows for both broad screening and detailed optimization, expediting the advancement of promising candidates to further development stages while ensuring robust and scalable processes.
Process development and scale-up
Process development and scale-up are essential for ensuring consistent and scalable production of bacterial-based vaccines, meeting stringent regulatory standards and market demands. Benchtop bioreactors plays an important role in addressing these challenges by allowing researchers to optimize fermentation protocols. They can experiment with diverse media compositions, induction strategies, and nutrient feeding profiles to maximize antigen yield. Successful process optimization at the small scale provides a reliable foundation for scaling up production to larger bioreactors or fermenters. This approach helps mitigate risks associated with scaling, such as variability in growth kinetics and antigen expression levels.
Flexibility and experimentation
Flexibility in experimentation poses challenges due to the complexity of balancing multiple variables and ensuring consistency and reproducibility in results. Researchers must meticulously design experiments to isolate and understand the effects of each parameter on antigen production and vaccine quality. Variability in experimental conditions can lead to inconsistent results, necessitating careful validation and standardization processes. These challenges underscore the importance of rigorous scientific methodology and the need for advanced bioproduction tools to support accurate experimentation and reliable vaccine development.
Strain selection and screening
Strain selection is pivotal in bacterial-based vaccine development, influencing antigen expression levels and quality critical for vaccine efficacy and safety. Small-scale equipment, particularly incubator shakers with 3 mm throw, addresses these challenges by enabling efficient qualitative screening of multiple bacterial strains simultaneously in deep well plates. Researchers utilize incubator shakers for initial high-throughput screening to assess growth rates and basic antigen expression levels. This approach facilitates early identification of promising candidates, rapidly narrowing down strains with desired characteristics. Following this initial screening, small-scale bioreactors are employed for more quantitative process development. In these systems, researchers can optimize culture conditions such as temperature, pH, oxygen levels, and nutrient supply to enhance the productivity of selected strains. This two-step approach allows for both broad screening and detailed optimization, expediting the advancement of promising candidates to further development stages while ensuring robust and scalable processes.
Process development and scale-up
Process development and scale-up are essential for ensuring consistent and scalable production of bacterial-based vaccines, meeting stringent regulatory standards and market demands. Benchtop bioreactors plays an important role in addressing these challenges by allowing researchers to optimize fermentation protocols. They can experiment with diverse media compositions, induction strategies, and nutrient feeding profiles to maximize antigen yield. Successful process optimization at the small scale provides a reliable foundation for scaling up production to larger bioreactors or fermenters. This approach helps mitigate risks associated with scaling, such as variability in growth kinetics and antigen expression levels.
Flexibility and experimentation
Flexibility in experimentation poses challenges due to the complexity of balancing multiple variables and ensuring consistency and reproducibility in results. Researchers must meticulously design experiments to isolate and understand the effects of each parameter on antigen production and vaccine quality. Variability in experimental conditions can lead to inconsistent results, necessitating careful validation and standardization processes. These challenges underscore the importance of rigorous scientific methodology and the need for advanced bioproduction tools to support accurate experimentation and reliable vaccine development.
INFORS HT solutions for bacterial-based vaccines
Multitron standard incubator shaker
The INFORS HT Multitron standard incubator shaker facilitates efficient screening of multiple bacterial strains simultaneously, supporting the initial stages of bacterial-based vaccine development. Its primary role is in strain selection and preliminary media optimization, where it enables researchers to evaluate growth rates and basic antigen expression levels across various conditions. While the Multitron standard doesn't mimic larger-scale bioreactors, it plays a crucial role in the early stages of process development. Its ability to maintain consistent temperature and agitation across multiple samples allows for parallel experimentation with different media compositions. This capability is particularly useful for initial optimization before moving to more sophisticated bioreactor systems.
The Multitron standard's uniform cultivation environment supports reproducible results, which is essential for identifying promising strains and media formulations. However, for more advanced process development involving parameters like pH control, feeding strategies, and precise oxygen regulation, researchers typically transition to parallel bioreactor systems. The Multitron standard thus serves as an important steppingstone, streamlining the early stages of vaccine development and helping to identify candidates for more detailed investigation in bioreactor systems.
Bioreactors
The INFORS HT bioreactors for microbial fermentation address challenges in strain selection, process development, scale-up, and experimentation in bacterial-based vaccine development. They provide precise control over cultivation conditions, optimizing growth parameters and evaluating strain performance effectively. Their scalability from bench scale through to scale-up supports consistent process refinement, allowing researchers to develop fermentation protocols which meet commercial viability and regulatory standards. These bioreactors facilitate testing of variables such as media compositions, physical growth parameters, and genetic modifications, accelerating the refinement of vaccine formulations to improve efficacy and production scalability.
eve® bioprocess platform software
The eve® bioprocess platform software from INFORS HT, supports strain selection, process refinement, scaling up operations, and enables rigorous experimentation crucial for bacterial-based vaccine development. It offers robust data management and analysis tools for optimizing growth parameters and evaluating strain performance efficiently. Real-time monitoring and control capabilities ensure consistent fermentation conditions across different scales, supporting protocol optimization and regulatory compliance. The software facilitates complex automated data handling, ensuring rigorous scientific analysis and optimized production processes.
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Researchers have demonstrated how Bacillus subtilis BS20 can be optimized as a potent biocontrol agent for agriculture by scaling up antifungal metabolite production. Using the INFORS HT Labfors bench-top bioreactor, the team developed a process model and validated scale-up from 1 L to 10 L fermentation, maintaining high antifungal activity with a zone of inhibition up to 65 mm. This study offers a scalable, sustainable alternative to chemical pesticides through microbial fermentation.
Researchers at the University of Nottingham’s School of Biosciences have advanced vaccine development for Chagas disease by expressing and purifying a key enzyme target, TcPOP, in E. coli using the INFORS HT Techfors-S pilot bioreactor. The purified protein enabled structural and immunological characterization, showing parasite-neutralizing activity in mouse models and providing insights into the conformational dynamics of the enzyme. These findings offer a strong foundation for the development of a targeted, protein-based vaccine candidate for a globally neglected tropical disease.
Researchers from Adamo Foods and the University of Nottingham investigated how nutritional manipulation of fermentation media, specifically the addition of iron (Fe III) and Vitamin B12, impacts the yield, texture, and nutritional profile of fungal mycelium grown for alternative meat applications. Using the INFORS HT Techfors-S pilot bioreactor, the team scaled up production from shake flasks and observed significant increases in bioaccumulation of iron and B12, with up to 97% terephthalic acid yield sustained across multiple cycles. Sensory testing of biomass processed into steaks also revealed changes in texture and flavor, highlighting the importance of bioreactor-based media optimization for developing high-quality, reproducible mycelium-based products.