Vaccine Design and Delivery

One of the primary goals of the Vaccine Design and Delivery Group is to gain new fundamental knowledge that can facilitate the design, optimization and development of novel delivery systems capable of delivering loaded biopharmaceuticals to the intended target site(s). Vaccine Design and Delivery Group addresses the complex challenges associated with the formulation and targeted delivery of vaccines and nucleic acid-based therapeutics.

Research question

The research focus of the Vaccine Design and Delivery Group is advanced drug delivery. The group uses in vivo imaging (e.g., NIR, MRI and SPECT/CT) to guide and optimize the design of new nanoparticle-based delivery systems for vaccines and nucleic acid-based therapeutics to improve therapy. The research in the group is highly interdisciplinary. The team comprises 12 international researchers of various backgrounds, including pharmacists, biologists, biochemists, physicists and biotechnologists.

“Biopharmaceuticals like vaccines and nucleic acid-based therapeutics are challenging from a pharmaceutical perspective, because they are highly complex products, which can only be understood via solid fundamental science. Using systematic knowledge-based quality-by-design approaches, combined with advanced physicochemical and biopharmaceutical assessment, and molecular imaging, we design new delivery systems for biopharmaceuticals to optimize their stability, efficacy and safety” says Professor and Group Leader, Camilla Foged.

The overall research goal is to improve disease prevention and treatment in the fields of infectious and inflammatory diseases, and cancer. The group is addressing drug delivery challenges from bench-to-bedside, via international collaborations, using state-of-the-art technologies. This has fostered innovative solutions and high-impact publications in drug delivery.

Main findings

Intrapulmonary (i.pulmon.) Pull Immunization With the Tuberculosis Subunit Vaccine Candidate H56/CAF01 After Intramuscular (i.m.) Priming Elicits a Distinct Innate Myeloid Response and Activation of Antigen-Presenting Cells Than i.m. or i.pulmon. Prime Immunization Alone
A. Thakur, F.E. Pinto, H.S. Hansen, P. Andersen, D. Christensen, C. Janfelt, C. Foged.
Frontiers in Immunology, 2020.
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.00803

Mechanistic profiling of the release kinetics of siRNA from lipidoid-polymerhybrid nanoparticlesin vitroandin vivoafter pulmonary administration.
K. Thanki, D. van Eetvelde, A. Geyer, J. Fraire, R. Hendrix, H. Van Eygen, E. Putteman, H. Sami, C. de Souza Carvalho-Wodarz, H. Franzyk, H. Mørck Nielsen, K. Braeckmans, CM. Lehr, M. Ogris, C. Foged.
Journal of Controlled Release, 2019.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2019.08.004

Identification of Factors of Importance for Spray Drying of Small Interfering RNA-Loaded Lipidoid-Polymer Hybrid Nanoparticles for Inhalation
C. Dormenval, A. Lokras, G. Cano-Garcia, A. Wadhwa, K. Thanki, F. Rose, A. Thakur, H. Franzyk, C. Foged
Pharmaceutical Research, 2019.
DOI: 10.1007/s11095-019-2663-y

Lipidoid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles loaded with TNF siRNA suppress inflammation after intra-articular administration in a murine experimental arthritis model
M.A.A. Jansen, L.H. Klausen, K. Thanki, J. Lyngsø, J. Skov Pedersen, H. Franzyk, H. M. Nielsen, W. van Eden, M. Dong, F. Broere, C. Foged, X. Zeng.
European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 2019.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2019.06.009