From live-attenuated viral vaccines to next-generation vaccine platforms based on “virus-like particles”

Biologics Seminar Series

Lecture by Dr. Adam Frederik Sander Bertelsen, Associate Professor, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen:

Case story: Development of a COVID-19 vaccine

Abstract:
Virus-like particles (VLPs) represent a significant advance in the development of subunit vaccines, combining high safety and efficacy. Their particulate nature and dense repetitive subunit organization makes them ideal scaffolds for display of vaccine antigens. This talk will describe the development of a novel versatile VLP vaccine platform and will use the development of a specific clinical phase COVID-19 vaccine to exemplify the benefits of the VLP technology.

Brief biography:
Dr. Adam Frederik Sander Bertelsen is a molecular biologist with a PhD from the University of Copenhagen. At Centre for Medical Parasitology, University of Copenhagen, he has been involved with the development of anti-malaria vaccines. During this work he developed a generic and easy-to-use technology for developing efficient vaccines against both infectious- and noncommunicable chronic diseases. The technology employs “virus-like particles” (VLPs) which are enabled to bind efficiently to various vaccine antigens via a genetically engineered binding-tag on the VLP surface. This versatile and cost-effective way of making VLP based vaccines from any vaccine antigen could present a paradigm shift in future vaccine design. Most recently, Adam F.S. Bertelsen has been leading the development of a clinical stage COVID-19 vaccine.

The seminars will last for 45 min + 15 min questions and are free of charge. Please contact Aneesh Thakur (aneesh.thakur@sund.ku.dk or +45 35 33 39 38) for further information.