{"id":391415,"date":"2022-08-08T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?post_type=selected&p=391415"},"modified":"2022-08-08T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T08:00:00","slug":"hydrogel-improves-vaccines-shelf-life","status":"publish","type":"selected","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/selected\/hydrogel-improves-vaccines-shelf-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Hydrogel improves vaccines’ shelf life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nearly half of all vaccines go to waste. This is due to the logistical obstacles involved in transporting them to diverse regions of the world. Most vaccines require strict temperature regulation from the manufacturing line to injection into a patient’s arm. Maintaining a constant temperature along the cold (supply) chain is a challenging feat in the best of circumstances. In Sub-\u200bSaharan Africa and other developing regions, for example, limited transport infrastructure and unreliable electricity compounds the already immense challenges of delivering viable vaccines, writes the ETH Zurich in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rising to the challenge, scientists from ETH Zurich\u2019s Macromolecular Engineering and Organic Chemistry Labs and entrepreneurs from Colorado-\u200bbased start-\u200bup, Nanoly Bioscience worked together to develop a safe, versatile platform to increase the thermal stability of vaccines. Their aim? To vastly improve the distribution of viable vaccines and reduce the economic costs of the cold chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like \u201cTupperware\u201d for proteins<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThink of it like an egg,\u201d explains Bruno Marco-\u200bDufort, a doctoral researcher in Professor Mark Tibbitt\u2019s Macromolecular Engineering lab. \u201cAt room temperature or in the refrigerator the egg maintains its viscous-\u200blike protein structure, but once it hits boiling water or the frying pan its structure changes permanently\u201d. It is similar for the proteins in a vaccine – once exposed to certain temperatures they clump together. Cooling them down again will not reverse their denaturation \u2013 you cannot \u2018un-\u200bcook\u2019 the egg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So rather than altering mother nature, Marco-\u200bDufort and the research team developed a new type of hydrogel, the details of which were just published in the journal Science Advances<\/em>. The gel is based on a biocompatible, synthetic polymer known as \u201cPEG\u201d that serves as a protective, \u201ccloaking device\u201d for very large – yet invisible to the naked eye – complex molecules such as the proteins found in vaccines, antibodies, or gene therapies. The packaging works kind of like a molecular Tupperware, encapsulating the proteins and keeping them separated. It enables the proteins to withstand a higher range of temperature fluctuations. Instead of the traditional +2 to +8 \u00b0C (35 to 45 \u00b0F) range for the cold chain, encapsulation allows for a range of 25 to 65 \u00b0C (75 to 150 \u00b0F). Most importantly, the encapsulated cargo is simply released by adding a sugar solution, enabling easy on-\u200bdemand recovery of the vaccines at their point of use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use in cancer research<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In addition to a higher rate of vaccine viability, the real game changer of this new biomedical hydrogel technology is the potential economic effect it could have on reducing costs and health risks associated with the cold chain. \u201cIn 2020, the overall market for cold chain services (from manufacturing to distribution) was $17.2 billion and forecasted to rise,\u201d the researchers reported. Rising costs pose potentially dire consequences for public health and public trust if vaccines arrive via a compromised cold chain.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Tuberculosis vaccine passes safety test<\/div>
No other infectious disease has killed more people than tuberculosis. Currently, only one vaccine is available to prevent severe courses:\u00a0Bacillus Calmette Gu\u00e9rin\u00a0(BCG). <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cMost vaccines are sensitive to hot and cold. This creates a large barrier for global immunization campaigns, because vaccine distribution and administrative costs often exceed the costs of production,\u201d explains Marco-\u200bDufort. While more investments will be needed to shore up the cold chain, encapsulation offers a cost saving solution that could be put towards production of more vaccines and thus, save more lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One step towards solving a global issue<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While new biotechnologies and cost savings are a step in the right direction, there are still tremendous logistical, political, and socio-\u200beconomic challenges in resolving the global issues surrounding equitable vaccine distribution and vaccine hesitancy. Marco-\u200bDufort\u2019s motivation is undeterred. His childhood experience living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo instilled a deep appreciation for the need for vaccines against infectious diseases, not just for Covid-\u200b19, but also for Polio, Meningitis, and Ebola. He, more than most, is aware of the tremendous challenges people living in Sub-\u200bSaharan Africa face in terms of access to vaccines where infectious diseases are still prevalent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":515489,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[34665],"tags":[35045,128336,60859,47934,48874],"location":[52892],"internal_archives":[],"class_list":["post-391415","selected","type-selected","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-ebola","tag-eth-zurich-9","tag-hydrogel","tag-polio","tag-vaccine","location-switzerland"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/ezgif.com-gif-maker-1.png","coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/","display_name":"Mauro Mereu"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 8, 2022","modified":"Updated on August 8, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 8, 2022 10:00 am","modified":"Updated on August 8, 2022 10:00 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","tax_additional":{"category":{"linked":["Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Health<\/span>"],"slug":"category","name":"Categories"},"post_tag":{"linked":["Ebola<\/a>","ETH Zurich<\/a>","Hydrogel<\/a>","polio<\/a>","vaccine<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Ebola<\/span>","ETH Zurich<\/span>","Hydrogel<\/span>","polio<\/span>","vaccine<\/span>"],"slug":"post_tag","name":"Tags"},"language":{"linked":["EN<\/a>"],"unlinked":["EN<\/span>"],"slug":"language","name":"Tags"},"post_translations":{"linked":["pll_62f1f7e7bc422<\/a>"],"unlinked":["pll_62f1f7e7bc422<\/span>"],"slug":"post_translations","name":""},"location":{"linked":["Switzerland<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Switzerland<\/span>"],"slug":"location","name":"Locations"},"internal_archives":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"internal_archives","name":"Internal Archives"}},"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected\/391415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/selected"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391415"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=391415"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=391415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}