Designing better vaccines

May 2006

Vaccine development, an area of biotechnology that has remained largely unchanged since the 1950s, is undergoing a radical modernisation at Monash University.

Report: Robyn Anns
Photography: Melissa Di Ciero

Monash University researchers are developing a method of making vaccines that will lead to highly effective inoculations made in a fraction of the time it now takes.

Quicker, better vaccines: Dr Gareth Forde at work.

Dr Gareth Forde, the Group Leader, Research, at the university's new Bio-Engineering Laboratory in the Engineering faculty, says the group's aim is to reduce vaccine production time from six months to two weeks.

"Current vaccine production technology has remained virtually unchanged for half a century," Dr Forde says. "It is a long, laborious process with a high chance of failure. It commonly relies upon the introduction of weakened or inactivated viruses into the body."

The Monash method, however, uses DNA as the base for the vaccines. "Using plasmid DNA (a small circular DNA molecule found mostly in bacteria), we can create a molecule from scratch. These DNA-based vaccines will be quicker to make, safer and more stable," he says.

DNA vaccines can be delivered in the same way as other vaccines, and they act like normal vaccines by triggering the body's immune system to recognise a potential threat.

"But DNA vaccines have many advantages over current vaccines in that they don't involve safety concerns such as possible toxic or immune reactions in which the body starts attacking the vaccine itself," Dr Forde says.

"DNA is an inherently sturdy molecule, so it could be safely distributed throughout the world without the need for refrigeration."

The need for highly effective, quickly produced vaccines that can be safely transported and stored has never been greater.

"The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that the present capacity to produce a vaccine to fight a pandemic is woefully inadequate," Dr Forde says. "This has led to a demand for forward-looking innovations, such as DNA-based vaccines, to address production issues. The WHO has stated that the development of DNA vaccines should be encouraged for their long-term potential."

Monash's Bio-Engineering Laboratory opened in December and is the only university-owned and operated large-scale facility in Australia. It is equipped to handle pilot-scale production of new vaccines using the same cell lines of bacteria that are used by the pharmaceutical industry.

The laboratory is staffed by researchers from the Engineering faculty's Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering departments. Its operation is financially supported by Monash and by the Victorian Endowment for Science Knowledge and Innovation -- a Victorian Government program.

"The lab means Monash is developing bio-engineering knowledge within the Australian biotechnology community and providing a platform for collaboration with other research groups and industry," Dr Forde says.

"The technology we are developing could one day help to empower developing nations to make their own vaccines.

"If we can simplify the vaccine-making process and make that technology readily available to groups around the world, it would empower all countries to make vaccines for their own populations instead of having to buy vaccines produced by pharmaceutical companies.

"This would be particularly helpful in rapid response applications to crises such as global pandemics in developing countries."