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ESCO ASTER AND MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE COOPERATE ON RESEARCH OF HUMAN FLAVIVIRUS VACCINES

April 01, 2018

Esco Aster, a leading independent contract development and manufacturing organization underpinned by its patent Tide Motion bioreactor technology, has signed a cooperation agreement with the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg, Germany to develop new techniques for cell-culture based virus production of human flavivirus vaccines.

Under the terms of the agreement, Esco Aster will support a research project led by Dr. Yvonne Genzel, team leader Upstream Processing at the department Bioprocess Engineering, MPI. The purpose of the project is to culture Vero cells, using a packed bed bioreactor to a high cell density, and produce live attenuated yellow fever virus (YFV). Most companies are using the classical production process using embryonated chicken eggs in YFV vaccine manufacturing.

“We appreciate this support of fundamental research with equipment allowing a one-to-one comparison of current state-of-the-art packed-bed and perfusion systems for vaccine manufacturing. Hopefully, our results will contribute to modernize some of today’s cell culture-based virus production processes towards significant process intensification. We are very curious to evaluate the performance of the tide-motion technology for our application.”

Yvonne Genzel, team leader Upstream Processing, MPI.

“We are excited that this project is the first overseas joint research collaboration outside Singapore. Together with MPI researchers, we could identify new directions and methods for addressing this public health danger of mosquito-borne flaviviruses. The goal of our collaboration is to meet this concern by producing efficacious and affordable vaccines, and hopefully, a large-scale continuous production. We look forward to working with the MPI team.”

Xiangliang Lin, Esco Aster's Chief Executive Officer. 

Esco Aster supports the development of safe, effective, next-generation vaccines based on its advanced manufacturing solutions and processes to the marketplace.

Esco Aster Pte Ltd

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Singapore 486777

T: +65 6542 0833

 

Esco Aster Research Laboratory

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About Tide Motion Bioreactors

Tide motion pertains to the oscillation of culture medium into and out of the matrix vessel that intermittently exposes the cells to aeration and nutrition. The upward oscillation exposes the cells to nutrition, while the downward oscillation exposes the cells to aeration and at the same time washes away products and wastes. This gentle oscillation produces no air bubbles and causes very minimal shear stress, which are both detrimental to the cells. View a range of products at http://www.escoaster.com/tide-technology. 

About Esco Aster

Esco Aster is a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) focusing on offering vaccine-, cell- and gene-therapy development and biomanufacturing services using its proprietary TideMotion technology, bioprocessing and bioengineering equipment. 

Esco Aster aims to be a best-in-class cGMP CDMO, enabling the production of larger quantities of biologics materials needed for preclinical toxicology studies, clinical trials and eventual commercialisation, thus accelerating the transition of novel technologies from laboratory to patients in need. For more information on Esco Aster, please visit www.escoaster.com.  

About Yellow Fever Virus

Yellow fever virus (YFV) belongs to the group of flaviviruses (such as Zika virus, Dengue virus, Japanese Encephalitis virus) that are all transmitted via mosquito bites (Aedes aegypti). Spreading of these viruses has been re-emerging in the last decade due to weather and climate variability that increased further geographical expansion of Aedes vectors. Currently, the live-attenuated yellow fever vaccine is produced in embryonated chicken eggs. Source: World Health Organisation.

Shortage of the vaccine supply is a major issue, especially when sudden outbreaks occur (Brazil 2017). The attenuated yellow fever virus is also used as a vector for other vaccines such as dengue vaccine. Therefore, there is a high interest to develop an efficient cell culture-based option for viral vaccine production.