Description of service

The scientific work at the HZI Department of Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology includes the elucidation of mechanisms of host responses to infection and vaccination, discovering new mucosal adjuvants, and developing and validating vaccines against specific infectious diseases. For this, conventional murine models are ideally suited to perform a cost-efficient screening, selection and prioritization of vaccine candidates. The department features expertise, technology and infrastructure in the fields of adjuvants and formulation, including mucosal adjuvants. Within the framework of ISIDORe, the HZI-VAC will offer access in the form of pre-clinical studies in the murine system to assess the immunogenicity, safety and efficacy of specific vaccine formulations containing a mucosal adjuvant. The access includes animal housing, caretaking and biotechnical expertise for mouse studies on a vaccine candidate including sampling and standard immune monitoring to carry out validation experiments for potential users. Each unit of access will correspond to one formulation, i.e. a combination of one antigen (provided by the user) with one adjuvant from the HZI portfolio of mucosal adjuvants (e.g. STING agonists such as c-di-AMP, TLR2/6 agonist) or combination adjuvants, followed by extensive in vitro and in vivo characterization.

 

A summary of the results obtained with each formulation will be provided to the user. More specifically, access will comprise:

1. the purchase and housing of animals and animal care;

2. support in the area of vaccinology to advise on the experimental design, vaccination protocol and methodology for the immune monitoring;

3. conduction of immunizations and subsequent monitoring for the appearance of acute side effects;

4. the sampling of blood and/or organs for the characterization of the immunogenicity of the corresponding formulation;

5. performance of standard tests to characterize antigen-specific humoral and cellular immune responses at both systemic and mucosal territories (e.g. total antibodies and IgG subclasses in sera, secretory IgA, Th responses, CTL, Elispots, cytokines, etc.);

6. documentation of results for all experiments conducted during the project;

7. access to raw data;

8. appropriate conservation and storing of biological samples, if required;

9. data analysis in collaboration with external users; and

10. advice and support for legal and ethical requirements, including preparation of applications for animal studies.