European Infrastructure for Vaccine Research

Vaccines are among the most successful and cost-effective tools in public health for disease prevention. However, their development is time-consuming and complex, requiring a combination of expertise and technical capabilities that are not readily available within a single organization. To facilitate access to these capabilities and foster collaboration across the European vaccine landscape—with the goal of accelerating the development of safe, effective, and affordable vaccines—the European Commission funded TRANSVAC2 under the Horizon 2020 framework program. TRANSVAC2 is a European infrastructure for vaccine research and development (R&D).

TRANSVAC2 builds on the success of TRANSVAC, the European Network for Vaccine Research and Development, which was supported under the European Commission’s previous framework program (FP7). TRANSVAC made significant contributions to European vaccine development by providing scientific and technical services to more than 29 vaccine projects and developing a roadmap for establishing a sustainable European vaccine R&D ecosystem.

As of February 2022, TRANSVAC joined the ISIDORe network, allowing the consortium to continue offering services and harmonizing efforts with other research infrastructures.

TRANSVAC2 supports innovations in prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine development. High-quality technical services are offered across four service platforms: Technology (for process development and GMP production), Immune Correlates & Systems Biology, Animal Models, and Clinical Trial Support. Both academic and non-academic research groups, including SMEs, can apply to benefit from TRANSVAC2’s expertise, reagents, and facilities, thereby accelerating the development of their vaccines. TRANSVAC2 will further speed up vaccine development by advancing and applying cutting-edge technologies to address critical challenges in modern vaccine R&D, improving the quality of the services offered. Additionally, TRANSVAC2 will continue building a sustainable infrastructure for vaccine development in Europe.

TRANSVAC2 also provides training to impart fundamental and advanced knowledge across a broad spectrum of vaccine development. The training modules are coordinated with existing European vaccinology courses to complement current infrastructures and activities. This centralizes and expands training opportunities for the European vaccine community.

Through this comprehensive approach, TRANSVAC2 acts as a lever and innovation catalyst among all stakeholders involved in vaccine research and development in Europe. It contributes to the development of effective products to address European and global health challenges, strengthens Europe’s leadership in controlling disease burden and spread, and enhances the economic benefits for European vaccine developers.

Within TRANSVAC2, Fraunhofer IME leads Transnational Access 1 (TNA1) “Cross-Platform Screening and Optimization” as well as the associated Joint Research Activity (JRA1) “Improved Optimization and Harmonization of Cross-Vector Screening”. Both activities aim to provide a comprehensive range of established prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression/production systems to identify the optimal production platform for each vaccine candidate.

Under Joint Research Activity (JRA3) “Assay Development and Validation”, Fraunhofer is working on the development and standardization of SPR-based methods for vaccine R&D, production, and quality control, as well as on assays to detect impurities for product characterization.

As part of the European Training Programme in Vaccinology, Fraunhofer IME offers three training modules: assay development and validation focusing on SPR technology, process development and scale-up, and GMP production requirements.