Being part of the newer generation of vaccines, virus-like particles (VLPs) have proven to be effective in humans as well as animals. VLPs mimic the structure of the virus particles they are derived from and are highly immunogenic, but they lack the virus genomic material which gives them a favorable safety profile. The advantages over other vaccine types makes VLPs a desired modality and the interest in this technology has seen a tremendous uptake in recent years.

The insect cell/baculovirus expression system (BEVS) is a robust and efficient expression system and one of the technologies of choice to produce highly immunogenic VLP-based vaccines. The platform can deliver high expression yields of correctly folded VLPs, is cost effective, and is easily scalable. Although there are several advantages of using the BEVS technology for VLP development, one of its limitations is the difficulties it presents in the downstream phase of production.

During this webinar we will present upstream and downstream solutions across the VLP production workflow. Efficient and scalable VLP production is demonstrated in an insect-cell–based expression system that is optimized to produce high protein yields in just 6 to 10 days. In addition, we will discuss the use of an affinity tag system as a method for rapid screening of early vaccine candidates and outline the benefits of implementing affinity purification as a scavenging solution to remove coproduced baculovirus contaminants from the final product. Furthermore, we will address regulatory requirements for safety and purity testing during the VLP production process and discuss the benefits of implementing automated systems to save time and demonstrate product quality and safety.

Learning Objectives

• Learn more about efficient VLP production using an optimized and chemically defined baculovirus insect expression system.
• Find out more about how the use of a small affinity tag can help speed up screening of VLP vaccine candidates.
• Discover a unique affinity purification solution addressing the current impurity challenges associated with BEVs technology.
• Learn more about ways to confirm purity using industry recognized and regulatory accepted real-time PCR residual host cell DNA solutions.
• Understand mycoplasma testing regulatory requirements for lot release and how a rapid mycoplasma detection system has been validated and accepted by regulators in multiple modalities.

Speaker Information

Maya Yovcheva
R&D Scientist, Cell Biology, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Chantelle Gaskin
Field Application Specialist, Purification, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Florian Durst
Sr. Field Application Specialist, Pharma Analytics, Thermo Fisher Scientific