New vaccine-making process could transform pandemic response

OSLO/ SHEFFIELD, UK, 09 Oct 2024—Researchers at a top British university have been awarded funding for their infectious disease technology that could make life-saving vaccines more readily available to the world.

Scientists at the University of Sheffield will receive up to £3.7 million (US $4. 8 million) from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to establish proof-of-concept for RNAbox™, a specialised process designed to scale up production of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines at regional vaccine manufacturing sites. 

The easily adaptable and automated process aims to improve the world’s pandemic readiness by helping to increase equitable access to future doses of different mRNA vaccines as and when needed. It also has the potential to speed up our response to future emerging outbreaks, containing them before they spread to epidemic or pandemic proportions.

“The University of Sheffield’s versatile RNAbox™ builds on the ‘vaccine revolution’ experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic” explains Ingrid Kromann, Acting Executive Director of Manufacturing and Supply Chain at CEPI. “It aims to overcome a number of scientific hurdles which resulted in poorer countries facing devastating vaccine inequity by helping to make high-quality, low-cost vaccines quickly and easily close to the source of an outbreak.”

Compared to traditional designs, mRNA vaccines can be more rapidly tailored to different diseases, or different variants of a disease. By using the body’s own machinery to make proteins that will trigger an immune response rather than injecting the vaccine itself, the smart technology holds promise for tackling a number of other illnesses, including emerging infectious diseases. 

However, relative to other types of vaccine, mRNA vaccines are currently expensive to manufacture at a high product quality. These vaccines also require complex cold-chain storage and transportation infrastructure, making them extremely difficult to deliver to remote areas or low-resource settings. 

The RNAbox™ aims to combat these challenges through its bespoke manufacturing process designed to overcome the need to deliver the vaccine and instead have the mRNA vaccines locally manufactured at small production sites worldwide. 

Rather than the typical approach where vaccines are made in batches, the RNAbox™ process will run continuously which could create 7-10x more mRNA at a time and enable more efficient use of raw materials. This fast, optimised vaccine production is critical to the 100 Days Mission, a goal spearheaded by CEPI and embraced by the G7 and G20 to accelerate the development of vaccines and other countermeasures to as little as 100 days from identification of a future virus.

CEPI’s investment will explore using the technology to develop vaccines against CEPI priority pathogens, including the viruses causing deadly diseases like Ebola, Lassa fever, MERS and Nipah.

Dr Zoltán Kis, School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of being prepared for future pandemics and that we need the necessary tools to respond quickly. We need to tackle outbreaks equitably around the world, as diseases can spread across country borders.

“Our RNAbox will accelerate the development of new vaccines and their mass-manufacturing against a wide range of diseases. This transformative technology can also be used to develop much-needed vaccines against a range of unmet needs during non-epidemic/pandemic times. In case of a new epidemic/pandemic, the RNAbox can be quickly adapted to produce vaccines to tackle outbreaks. This will enable vaccine development and manufacturing capacity locally in countries around the world to serve local needs.”

Researchers have designed the RNAbox™ process to use digital-twin technology, where a virtual replica of the vaccine manufacturing approach is modelled on a computer in real-time through smart sensors collecting data on the physical product. This can help the experts optimise their operations by understanding what is happening on the production line. 

The University of Sheffield researchers will also work with vaccine manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries to ensure the technology is fit-for-purpose in lower-resource settings.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

CEPI’s award to the University of Sheffield falls under its Call for vaccine innovations to help the world better prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.

Development of the RNAbox™ has already been supported by grants from Innovate UK and Wellcome’s Leap programme, co-funded by CEPI.

Results, methodologies and standard operating processes on the RNAbox™ will be published in open access journals for the benefit of the global scientific community, in recognition of the commitment between CEPI and the University of Sheffield to enable equitable access to the outputs of their partnership, in line with CEPI’s Equitable Access Policy.

About CEPI

CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic and civil organisations. Its mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need. CEPI has supported the development of more than 50 vaccine candidates or platform technologies against multiple known high-risk pathogens or a future Disease X. Central to CEPI’s pandemic-beating five-year plan for 2022-2026 is the ‘100 Days Mission’ to compress the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days.

The University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield is a leading Russell Group university, with a world-class reputation. Over 30,000 students from 150 countries study at Sheffield. In a truly global community, they learn alongside over 1,500 of the world’s leading academics.

Sheffield’s world-shaping research feeds into its excellent education. Students learn at the leading edge of discovery from researchers who are tackling today’s biggest global challenges. 

Driven by outstanding people, staff and students share a commitment to changing the world for the better, through the power and application of ideas and knowledge.

From the first documented use of penicillin as a therapy in 1930, to building Europe’s largest research-led manufacturing cluster, Sheffield’s inventive spirit and top-quality research environment sets it apart. 

Current research partners include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Siemens and Airbus, as well as many government agencies and charitable foundations.

Sheffield was voted University of the Year in 2024 at the Whatuni Student Choice Awards - the largest annual university awards in the UK voted for exclusively by students. The award reflects a commitment to world-class education and an outstanding student experience. Its Students' Union, which is home to more than 350 societies and clubs, was also named Best Students’ Union for the seventh consecutive year.

Over 300,000 Sheffield alumni from 205 different countries make a significant influence across the world, with six Nobel Prize winners included amongst former staff and students.

To find out more, visit: www.sheffield.ac.uk