New Thermostable synthetic vaccine shows promise in combating Chikungunya, finds study

Thermostable Synthetic vaccine candidate shows promise in combating Chikungunya, finds a study. The new vaccine can be stored at room temperature and does not need any refrigeration. Chikungunya is a virus borne in tropical regions by mosquito species from the Aedes genus. The virus can cause debilitating symptoms such as fever and long-lasting joint pains.

Scientists from the University of Bristol and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Grenoble, France, in collaboration with the computer technology colossus, Oracle, have designed first in its kind synthetic vaccine to fight against chikungunya infection. The study was published in the journal, Science Advances.

"We were working with a protein that forms a multimeric particle resembling a virus but is completely safe because it has no genetic material inside, said Pascal Fender, an expert virologist at CNRS. "Completely by chance, we discovered that this particle was incredibly stable even after months, without refrigeration."

"This particle has a very flexible, exposed surface that can be easily engineered, added Imre Berger, Director of the Max Planck-Bristol Centre for Minimal Biology in Bristol. "We figured that we could insert small, harmless bits of Chikungunya to generate a virus-like mimic we could potentially use as a vaccine."

To validate their design, the scientists employed cryo-electron microscopy, a powerful new technique recently installed in Bristol's state-of-the-art microscopy facility headed by Christiane Schaffitzel, co-author of the study. Cryo-EM yields very large data sets from which the structure of a sample can be determined at near-atomic resolution, requiring massive parallel computing.

Enabled by Oracle's high-performance cloud infrastructure, the team developed a novel computational approach to create an accurate digital model of the synthetic vaccine. University of Bristol IT specialists Christopher Woods and Matt Williams, together with colleagues at Oracle, implemented software packages seamlessly on the cloud in this pioneering effort. Christopher explained: "We were able to process the large data sets obtained by the microscope on the cloud in a fraction of the time and at a much lower cost than previously thought possible."

"Researchers have had a long tradition of building and installing their own supercomputers on-premises, but cloud computing is allowing them to run large data sets in record time, with fast connectivity and low latency. This is helping them crunch data and make scientific breakthroughs much faster. Going forward, technologies like machine learning and cloud computing will play a significant part in the scientific world, and we are delighted we could help the researchers with this important discovery," added Phil Bates, leading cloud architect at Oracle.

The particles the scientists designed yielded exceptionally promising results in animal studies, soundly setting the stage for a future vaccine to combat Chikungunya disease.

"We were thoroughly delighted," continued Imre Berger. "Viruses are waiting to strike, and we need to have the tools ready to tackle this global threat. Our vaccine candidate is easy to manufacture, extremely stable and elicits a powerful immune response. It can be stored and transported without refrigeration to countries and patients where it is most needed. Intriguingly, we can now rapidly engineer similar vaccines to combat many other infectious diseases just as well."

"It really ticks a lot of boxes," concluded Fred Garzoni, founder of Imophoron Ltd, a Bristol biotech start-up developing new vaccines derived from the present work. "Many challenges in the industry require innovative solutions, to bring powerful new vaccines to patients. Matching cutting-edge synthetic biology with cloud computing turned out to be a winner."

The authors would like to thank the Finovi Foundation, the Agence National de Recherche (ANR), EPSRC, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust and GW4 for their support.

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DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw2853