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Pipetting Samples

SARS-COV-2 VACCINE

EPV-COV-19

EPV-CoV-19 is a T cell based vaccine designed using the iVAX platform [1]. This first-generation vaccine candidate includes highly conserved T cell epitopes (CD8 and CD4) from SARS-CoV-2.
EPV-CoV-19 is designed to be highly efficacious. Its peptides are both antigenic and immunogenic [2]. Our disease target is vaccine preventable, and we know that T cells are critical to mounting immune responses that confer protection. In addition, efficacy trials of currently approved COVID-19 vaccines demonstrate protection against symptomatic disease after T cell induction and before neutralizing antibodies are observed [3-6].

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IVAX DESIGN PLATFORM

iVAX consists of a suite of immunoinformatics tools for the design of epitope driven vaccines

Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases represent a significant challenge for next-generation vaccine design and bioterror preparedness. We have composed a suite of online immunoinformatics tools for the accelerated design of proteome-derived, epitope-driven vaccines [1]. Using the Conservatrix algorithm, mutable pathogenic genomes can be probed for highly conserved segments, which are then mapped for T cell epitopes and regions of high epitope density using EpiMatrix and ClustiMer. JanusMatrix (a homology analysis tool for examining pathogen/host sequence similarity with respect to the HLA and TCR faces of an epitope) is used to eliminate sequences which could potentially elicit an undesired autoimmune or regulatory T cell response due to homology with the human genome. Immunogenic Consensus Sequences are created by EpiAssembler, a tool which optimizes the balance between pathogen and population coverage. VaccineCAD links candidate epitopes into a string-of-beads design while minimizing nonspecific junctional epitopes that may be created in the linking process.
With proof of principle established in animal models for vaccines against tularemia, Vaccinia and H. pylori, the iVAX toolkit has become a rapid, efficient, easily accessible and broadly applicable solution for accelerating the development of critically important vaccines for human health and biodefense.

References

  1. De Groot A. S. et al. Better Epitope Discovery, Precision Immune Engineering, and Accelerated Vaccine Design Using Immunoinformatics Tools. Front. Immunol., 07 April 2020

  2. Meyers L. M. et al. Highly conserved, non-human-like, and cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes for COVID-19 vaccine design and validation. NPJ Vaccines. 6, 71 (2021)

  3. Self WH, Tenforde MW, Rhoads JP, et al. Comparative Effectiveness of Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) Vaccines in Preventing COVID-19 Hospitalizations Among Adults Without Immunocompromising Conditions — United States, March–August 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1337–1343

  4. Polack, F. P. et al. Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine. N. Engl. J. Med. 383, 2603–2615 (2020).

  5. Baden, L. R. et al. Efficacy and Safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine. N. Engl. J. Med. 384, 403–416 (2021).

  6. Kalimuddin, S. et al. Early T cell and binding antibody responses are associated with COVID-19 RNA vaccine efficacy onset. Med (2021)

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