Malaria Transmission-blocking Vaccines – ARTES Biotechnology And Burnet Announced A Development Project

Langenfeld, Germany / Melbourne, Australia, July 29, 2014 / B3C newswire / - ARTES Biotechnology and Burnet Institute have joined forces to develop a new type of malaria vaccine in a project funded by the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI).

The project will use exciting novel technology developed at the Burnet Institute, by Deputy-Director, Associate Professor David Anderson and colleagues. ARTES holds the international patent rights and adapted the platform to vaccine production (known as the Metavax® platform).

Purified vaccine antigens (Pfs25 and Pfs230) will be produced as virus-like particles (VLPs, a type of nano-particle) for testing in laboratory studies. The VLPs will be taken up by immune cells to prime and prepare the immune system to fight malaria.

Although malaria is one of the world’s leading causes of illness and death there is currently no vaccine approved for use. More than 600,000 people die of malaria each year and it most severely affects young children and pregnant women. Burnet Institute Co-Head of the Centre for Biomedical Research, Professor James Beeson says the challenges in developing an effective malaria vaccine are substantial.

“One of the challenges for malaria is how to best make vaccines in order to stimulate a strong and effective immune response and boost the immune system to fight malaria infections,” Professor Beeson said.

ARTES Managing Director Dr. Michael Piontek said the strong collaboration between Burnet and ARTES is a great opportunity for developing new malaria vaccines, “In this new project, Burnet and ARTES will combine their expertise to develop and test a novel approach for producing malaria vaccines. We are excited about the recognition and support provided by MVI for this development work.”

Vaccines that interrupt the transmission of malaria aim to protect whole populations, toward the ultimate goal of malaria eradication.

The project will focus on strategies to produce vaccines that can block the transmission of malaria infection from mosquitoes to people, as part of a program funded by MVI.

”At MVI, we think that transmission-blocking vaccines could play a significant role in the eventual eradication of malaria,” said Ashley J. Birkett, PhD, MVI Director. “We are therefore very pleased to be involved in this project, which uses an innovative approach to expressing transmission-blocking antigens.”

Burnet Team: Professor James Beeson, Associate Professor David Anderson, Dr. Jack Richards, Dr. Paul Gilson, Dr. Linda Reiling, Dr. Damien Drew and Dr. Paul Sanders.

About ARTES Biotechnology GmbH

ARTES is a Germany-based biotechnology company specialized in recombinant protein production, process and vaccine (VLP-based) development from microbial expression systems. ARTES offers generation of optimized production cell lines in proprietary yeast expression systems based on Hansenula polymorpha. In addition to genetic engineering, the company provides fermentation and downstream process development, analytical assay development and production cell line characterization. ARTES operates worldwide from its 850 sqm S1 facilities in Langenfeld.

To arrange interviews with Professor James Beeson please contact:
Catherine Somerville
Burnet Institute
Senior Media and Communications Officer
+61 422 043 498
cathsomerville@burnet.edu.au

To arrange interviews with ARTES Biotechnology please contact:
Dr. Melanie Piontek
ARTES Biotechnology GmbH
Elisabeth-Selbert-Straße 9
40764 Langenfeld, Germany
+49 2173 27587 0
piontek@artes-biotechnology.com

Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume.