A five-minute video about the ADDovenom project has been released. The film includes interviews with Profs Christiane Schaffitzel (University of Bristol) and Nick Casewell (LSTM), who highlight the numbers killed and injured by snake bites every year, and the drawbacks of current antivenom treatments. They explain how the goal of ADDovenom is to create a more effective, accessible, and cheaper therapeutic.
Category: Health
UKRI highlights BBI work on COVID-19 in article on structural biology research
The UKRI has published an article celebrating the history of BBSRC-supported impact in structural biology, which mentions the research on the SARS-CoV-2 virus by BBI researchers Profs Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel and Imre Berger.
The article (Advances in structural biology research) says:
Professors Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel and Imre Berger at the University of Bristol were pooling their teams’ expertise to study how membrane proteins fold.
Their work was supported by BBSRC responsive mode and ALERT research equipment funding, the Wellcome Trust, and BrisSynBio, one of six synthetic biology centres in the UK. BrisSynBio was funded by BBSRC and EPSRC, and Professor Imre Berger is the director of the centre.
When the pandemic started, they pivoted to COVID-19 as part of University of Bristol’s UNCOVER, a COVID-19 emergency research group led by Professor Adam Finn from Bristol Medical School (PHS).
Using cryogenic electron microscopy, where researchers freeze samples and fire electrons to image proteins, they determined the 3D structure of SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein. They discovered a pocket in the spike protein that they showed contained linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid with key roles in regulating the immune response.
Collaborating with virologist Professor Andrew Davidson and his team, they found that binding linoleic acid to the spike blocked the virus from infecting and replicating, acting as an antiviral. Two medical doctors in the US began using linoleic acid as an emergency COVID-19 treatment. Work is ongoing to develop this technology and establish full regulatory approval for this therapy in the UK.
To achieve approval and bring the drug to patients, University of Bristol spin-out Halo Therapeutics Ltd was founded by Dr Daniel Fitzgerald (CEO), Professor Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel (Chief Technology Officer) and Professor Imre Berger (Chief Strategy Officer).
Halo is developing structure-based drugs to target unmet needs around disease treatment. The spin-out is leading the application for clinical trials for the fatty acid antiviral drug on patients.
If successful, the drug could be used to treat early infections or for those who have been in contact with an infected individual to prevent infection and transmission.
Halo is also not stopping at COVID-19, turning its attention to other respiratory infections and potential obesity treatments based on fatty acid metabolism, too.
Vaccine Hub team hold annual meeting
The Future Vaccines Manufacturing Research Hub has held its Annual Meeting at Imperial College London, with BBI Co-Director Prof Imre Berger leading the team from University of Bristol. This was a follow up to the launch event in Bristol in November 2023.
Imre says: “These were fantastic days of great science, inspiring talks, and dynamic discussions. Exciting new ideas and projects are emerging from our partnerships with colleagues in the UK and Vietnam, especially with our long-standing collaborators from Vabiotech in Hanoi. Great science, great partnerships – looking forward to working together to bring the best vaccines and production tools to Vietnam!”
Bristol hosts Swiss-British Summit to drive innovation in healthcare and sustainability
The Bristol BioDesign Institute co-hosted the Synthetic & Engineering Biology British-Swiss Summit at Bristol’s M-Shed on 22 May 2024. The inaugural event was devoted to understanding the opportunities presented by engineering biology technologies to drive innovation in healthcare, forging collaborations between Switzerland and the UK with a focus on environmental sustainability.
The UK and Switzerland are both science superpowers. Collectively, they host ten of Europe’s top 20 research universities. Switzerland has ranked first in global innovation for the past decade and is home to several world-class research laboratories and multinational companies like Novartis. While the UK boasts a world-leading engineering biology community and forward-thinking policy, exemplified by the UK Government’s National Engineering Biology Vision published in December 2023.
A Memorandum of Understanding signed in November 2022 between the UK and Switzerland builds on a longstanding history of collaboration between the two countries, with detailed aspirations to encourage future cooperation in ‘deep science’ and ‘deep tech’ areas such as engineering biology.
The Summit, organised in partnership with the Swiss Business Hub UK & Ireland, the BioIndustry Association and Lucideon, aimed to bring together academic thought leaders and representatives from the life science and pharmaceutical industries. These included key Government officials, including members of the UK Government’s newly appointed Engineering Biology Steering Committee regulators, specialist start-up incubators such as Science Creates (Bristol) and BaseLaunch (Basel), and focused investment firms to identify bilateral opportunities for commercialisation through innovation, and policy and diplomacy in science and innovation.
His Excellency Markus Leitner, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Kingdom said: “The United Kingdom and Switzerland are uniquely placed to work together on this frontier of scientific discovery and technological innovation.
“Bringing together scientists, industry leaders and start-up entrepreneurs from both countries will foster the exchange of ideas, forge new partnerships, and catalyse new initiatives that will shape the future of synthetic and engineering biology.”
The Summit took a deep dive into future perspectives in cell engineering, bioprocessing and scale up, AI-driven solutions in synthetic and engineering biology, and accelerating the translation of fundamental research to commercial uptake.
Anike Te, Aegis Professor of Engineering Biology at the University of Bristol and Chief Strategy Officer at Lucideon, added: “Innovation is essential for solving the global challenges we face today. Engineering biology has the potential to provide many of these solutions. The UK and Switzerland are important countries for innovation and it is inspiring to see more collaboration in synthetic and engineering biology.”
Inspiring keynote talks were presented by Tay Salimullah (right), VP, Head US & Global Commercial, Value & Access, and Member of the Executive Committee at Novartis Gene Therapies and Dr Harry Destecroix, founder of Science Creates and co-founder of Ziylo, the hugely successful University of Bristol spin-out company.
Spotlight pitches from UK and Swiss engineering biology start-ups highlighted some of the most recent innovations entering the market.
(All images: First Avenue Photography)
(The news story was first published by University of Bristol)
Engineering Biology Mission Award success for BBI researchers
Two teams from the Bristol BioDesign Institute have been awarded funding from the UKRI – BBSRC Engineering Biology Technology Mission Fund call:
CYBER: Cyanobacteria Engineering for Restoring Environments (Principal Investigator: Dr Thomas Gorochowski)
CYBER aims to develop the foundational multidisciplinary tools needed to de-risk environmentally focused engineering biology and ultimately support its future deployment into real-world ecosystems. It brings together researchers from the Universities of Bristol (lead), Newcastle and Edinburgh, plus the National Measurements Laboratory (NML), NIST, Basecamp, Cultivarium, Bactobio, and Gitlife to improve the trustworthiness of engineered biology for environmental applications.
Haemotoxic and cytotoxic snake venom metalloproteinases – production, enzymatic specificity, snakebite treatment, and biomedical use (Principal Investigator: Prof Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel)
The team will establish robust production of snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMPs) toxins ready for use to develop next generation toxin-specific therapies for tackling snakebite envenoming. SVMPs also exhibit functional specificities desirable for biomedical purposes, as several are used as the basis for anti-platelet drugs or standards for the clinical diagnosis of bleeding disorders. The team will use recombinant, native and engineered toxins to identify new platelet inhibitors that block specific platelet surface receptors that are known drug targets. The project team includes ADDovenom colleagues Professor Nick Casewell (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) as Co-I, and Johara Stringari (University of Bristol) as Researcher Co-I.
£10.5 million investment to revolutionise future vaccine manufacture
A new collaborative initiative between UK universities and countries worldwide to share cutting-edge vaccine technology to prevent future global outbreaks of infectious diseases has been awarded £10.5 million from the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The funding will support the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (FVMR Hub), set up originally in 2017 by Imperial College London with University of Bristol as a partner, to continue operations for a further five years, until 2029.
As part of this partnership, world-leading vaccine scientists at Bristol are working with one of Vietnam’s major vaccine manufacturers, Vabiotech, to share their expertise in using a powerful recombinant production technology which relies on a synthetic baculovirus used as a production tool. The technology, pioneered at Bristol, is uniquely suited for producing next-generation vaccines in large quantities in insect cells that can be easily cultured at low cost in Vietnam.
To mark the funding announcement, and to kick-off Vaccine Hub operations, University of Bristol researchers welcomed representatives from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK, the CEO and research team of Vabiotech, and leading vaccine scientists and Hub partners from Imperial College London with a reception in the Wills Memorial Building. The visit included a tour of Bristol’s high-tech facilities, including robotics laboratories, the cryogenic electron microscopy facility, and the new biosafety level 3 virology laboratories, all of which were established during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bristol FVMR Hub lead Professor Imre Berger, Director of the Max Planck-Bristol Centre for Minimal Biology and Co-Director of the Bristol BioDesign Institute, said: “Our partner Vabiotech is particularly interested in using the technology we developed in Bristol to produce vaccines to combat rabies and avian flu, both major challenges in Vietnam. We saw just a few years ago how quickly avian flu, which began in Vietnam, developed into a global threat for humans around the world. Together with Vabiotech, we will put cutting-edge technology in place to afford cost-effective protection.
Professor Agnes Nairn, Pro 
Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement) at the University of Bristol said: “As a university, we are committed to building research partnerships that help make a positive health impact on populations around the world, of which this initiative is set to do. We are delighted by this new funding for the Vaccine Hub which will see our efforts continue in fighting infectious diseases that have the potential to affect us all.”
Professor Robin Shattock, Chair in Mucosal Infection and Immunity at Imperial College London and Lead Investigator of the Hub said: “Through the establishment of the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Hub we are looking to exploit the next wave of biotechnology innovation to rapidly respond to emerging outbreaks and empower countries most at risk to infections to meet their local vaccine needs.”
Dr Dat, CEO and Senior Advisor at Vabiotech, said: “Never has it been more important to work together to help prevent and fight the spread of infectious diseases. The new cost-effective vaccine technology, pioneered at Bristol and shared with Vabiotech, is one example which will help many in our country and, ultimately, also others, who will access these vaccines.”
The hubs were announced by Minister for Health and Secondary Care Will Quince. He said: “I’m thrilled that the UK is building on its strong working relationship with global researchers by funding these innovative vaccine hubs, which will support partners across Africa and South East Asia to improve vaccine manufacturing capability.
“These innovative partnerships between British universities and vaccine developers – with £33 million of UK aid funding – will ensure vaccines are accessible to everyone in need, and allow us to future-proof health systems both here and abroad by accelerating the availability of new vaccines for future pandemics.”
The meeting was also attended by University of Bristol’s Professor Jeremy Tavare, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean, Health and Life Sciences; Professor Liang-Fong Wong, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation; Professor Michele Barbour, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Enterprise and Innovation; Professor Elek Molnar, International Director of the Faculty of Life Sciences; Professor Nigel Savery, Head of the School of Biochemistry; and Dr Kathleen Sedgley, Mr Wayne Powell and Ms Justyna Gol from the Bristol BioDesign Institute.
The initiative is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the UK Vaccine Network (UKVN), a UK Aid programme to develop vaccines for diseases with epidemic potential in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).
(This news story was originally published by the University of Bristol)