Vaccines are one of the most successful and cost-effective public health tools for disease prevention. Their development though is time-consuming and complex, requiring a combination of specialised skills and technical capacities not readily available at a single organisation.
In order to facilitate access to these skills and capacities and to promote collaborations in the European vaccine landscape - aiming thereby to accelerate the development of safe, effective and affordable vaccines - the European Commission (EC), in the context of the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, recently committed significant funding to TRANSVAC2, a European vaccine research and development (R&D) infrastructure. Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) is one the infrastructure partners.
TRANSVAC2 builds upon the success of TRANSVAC, the European Network of Vaccine Research and Development funded under the EC´s previous Framework Programme (FP7).
TRANSVAC2 will support innovation for both prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine development. High-quality technical services across four different service platforms will be offered: Technology (for process development and GMP production), Immunocorrelates & Systems Biology, Animal models, and support for Clinical Trials. Researchers, including those from industry, can apply to benefit from the expertise, reagents, and facilities offered by TRANSVAC2 to accelerate the development of their vaccines. The call for applications is planned to be launched in October 2017. TRANSVAC2 will further accelerate vaccine development by applying cutting-edge technologies to address critical issues in modern vaccine development and thereby increase the quality of services provided. Additionally, TRANSVAC2 will continue the efforts to establish a sustainable vaccine development infrastructure in Europe.
