Thermostabilized subunit glycoprotein vaccine platform: immune characterization of an emulsified adjuvant with sars-COV-2 spike protein and ebov GP - 7. Project summary/abstract the proposal…

Thermostabilized subunit glycoprotein vaccine platform: immune characterization of an emulsified adjuvant with sars-COV-2 spike protein and ebov GP - 7. Project summary/abstract the proposal requests funding to support manufacturing and immune characterization of a novel, emulsified adjuvant which is uniquely compatible with lyophilization strategies to enable thermostabilization of glycoprotein vaccines. The major objectives of the study are to transfer and optimize the manufacture of a novel adjuvant and to characterize and assess the comparative immunogenicity of different adjuvant formulations in terms of both humoral and cell mediated immunity, utilizing two different multimeric glycoprotein antigens. Ultimately, this program will identify an optimal adjuvant formulation, capable of potentiating both humoral and cell mediated immunity to protein antigens, compatible with lyophilization and resulting in a thermostabilized vaccine utilizing generally regarded as safe ('gras') excipients. Specific formulation development will be done in the context of the zaire ebolavirus (ebov) GP, a component of our trivalent filovirus vaccine (trifilovax) targeting ebov, sudan ebolavirus (sudv) and marburgvirus (marv) and with SAR-COV-2 spike protein, supporting covid-19 vaccine development efforts. While state of the art medical treatment may increase the chances of survival of both the highly fatal ebov and the highly transmissible covid-19, currently no antiviral therapy is available to prevent or cure the disease. Vaccination remains the most feasible route for addressing and preventing future epidemics. Ongoing clinical development in the context of ebov has identified both therapeutics and vaccines which are being tested in the ongoing outbreak in the democratic republic of congo. However, these approaches are highly selective for ebov only. The sole approved vaccine is a virally vectored vaccine requiring cold storage (