GLYCOVAX is a network for the education of promising young scientists to the rational design of well-defined and innovative glycoconjugate vaccines to improve current therapies and tackle unmet medical needs. Vaccination with carbohydrate-protein conjugates have made possible to save millions of lives, by preventing meningitis, pneumoniae and other life threating diseases. Due to the increase of antibiotic resistance, it is expected that in the next years vaccination will be applied to tackle unmet medical needs, and for prevention of microbial infections caused by antibiotic resistant microorganisms, pandemic infections, and diseases for travelers to areas afflicted by diseases no longer present in the country of origin. Vaccination can aid reducing the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics since it can provide protection (herd immunity) also for individuals who are not vaccinated.
The quality and immunological activity of future glycoconjugate can be improved by merging the most advanced techniques for selection of the carbohydrate to be linked to the protein, fast production of these carbohydrates and connection at specific sites of the protein.
The science developed under the GLYCOVAX programme has been applied to improve existing vaccines (as in the case of Neisseria meningitidis) and to epidemiologically relevant disease areas for which no therapy is yet available: neonatal infections (Group B Streptococci, GBS), and nosocomial infections (Enterococci, Staphylococcus aureus).
To achieve its scope, GLYCOVAX was organized into four scientific work-packages, covering methods for carbohydrate preparation, including the innovative carbohydrate automated synthesis, carbohydrate-protein interaction studies, strategies for site-selective protein conjugation and screening of the produced glycoconjugate vaccine candidates.
A unique feature of GLYCOVAX has been the profound interaction between academic and industry, which resulted from a network composed of eight academic groups, one industrial partner and one small medium size enterprises (SMEs). An additional SME complemented the GLYCOVAX consortium for the administrative management and organizing training course. The partners have offered expertise in carbohydrate chemical/enzymatic synthesis, conjugation techniques, high throughput screening technology, structural glycobiology, vaccinology and immunology, and project management. In total, 14 Early Stage Researchers (ESR) have worked on the four ambitious work packages and have been exposed to the most innovative ideas and techniques in the growing field of glycoscience and vaccinology. They have been trained by an intensive program of workshops, summer schools, seminars, and secondments; finally, the training has been complemented with transferable skills courses.
The multi-disciplinary approach of the GLYCOVAX network has substantially increased the knowledge on glycoconjugate vaccines, enabling a better understanding of the features impacting on the immunogenicity of conjugates under clinical development (e.g. GBS). Furthermore the network has generated new methodologies for pathogen-free production of antigens and new approaches for linking carbohydrates to proteins leading to vaccines with high quality standards and improved characteristics. Importantly, the network has also contributed to identify new potential vaccine candidates for disease against which no preventive therapy is currently available (e.g. antimicrobial resistant Enterococci). Overall these achievements have allowed advancing the field of glycoconjugate towards rational design.
The dissemination and outreach of the project activities targeted a broad range of stakeholders, from scientific parties to wider public audiences, thus resulting in a high visibility and impact of the project outcome.
