Project description
Vaccines against the Marburg virus
The Marburg virus (MARV) belongs to the same family as Ebola virus and can cause severe and often fatal illness. The frequency and geographic expansion of MARV disease outbreaks, including recent cases in central and east Africa, confirm its epidemic potential. Despite its prioritisation by the WHO, there are no vaccines available for MARV disease, leading to high morbidity and mortality. The EU-funded MARVAX project aims to address this medical threat by engineering enhanced MARV vaccines. The research involves comprehensive evaluation of humoral and cellular immune responses in preclinical models, including innovative in vitro cultures and relevant animal models. The project will produce vaccines for potential phase I clinical trials.
Objective
The frequency, magnitude, and geographical range of Marburg virus disease outbreaks are expanding, with recent cases emerging in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania. Marburgviruses, listed among the WHO priority pathogens, have demonstrated their epidemic potential. However, no licensed vaccines are available, and outbreaks continue to impose high morbidity and mortality burdens. Vaccine candidates in the pipeline are based on the Marburg virus (MARV) glycoprotein (GP) as a single immunogen. MARVAX ambition is to improve the strength and breadth of MARV vaccines by deploying the measles virus (MV) and modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) viral vector vaccine platforms for expression of several MARV antigens: GP, viral protein 40 (VP40), which together with GP allows the formation of virus-like particles, and the nucleoprotein (NP), which contains conserved epitopes that are the main drivers of T cell responses. We will evaluate in depth the innate, adaptive and memory antigen-specific humoral and cellular cross-protective immune responses induced by MV-MARV and MVA-MARV vaccine candidates against MARV, Ravn virus and ebolaviruses, in single dose and in homologous and heterologous prime/boost immunization regimens, through an innovative preclinical testing pipeline. We will use cutting-edge and novel in vitro primary human cell co-cultures and immunocompetent mouse models to evaluate immunogenicity, chimeric and avatar mouse models to evaluate immunogenicity and efficacy and identify correlates of protection, and the highly relevant cynomolgus macaque model to evaluate safety, immunogenicity and efficacy. Furthermore, GMP batches of the best vaccine candidates will be produced by the end of the project, towards their future evaluation in a phase I clinical trial, in collaboration with the WHO-led initiative for prioritization and acceleration of clinical trials of Marburgvirus vaccines in at-risk and healthcare communities and upon outbreaks.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology demography mortality
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunisation
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.2.1 - Health
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.2.1.5 - Tools, Technologies and Digital Solutions for Health and Care, including personalised medicine
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HORIZON.2.1.4 - Infectious Diseases, including poverty-related and neglected diseases
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-HLTH-2023-DISEASE-03
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
20359 Hamburg
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.