BioEngine presented at Vaccine Technology VII International Conference

From June 17-22, 2018, Mont-Tremblant, a picturesque town in Quebec, Canada, welcomed the 7th Vaccine Technology International Conference. Our R&D Director, Dr. Xuping Liu, was invited by the conference organizing committee to attend the conference and was sponsored by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the entire expenses. As the only Chinese domestic company invited to this international conference for culture media manufacturing and vaccine process technology development, BioEngine was awarded the EU ISO:13485 quality management system certification in 2017, and its products have been supplied to many laboratories and research institutions in Europe, which are widely recognized by the international academic community.

Vaccine Technology is a highly professional and well-known conference in the international vaccine industry, which is held every two years and the delegates are required to provide their R&D results in related fields to pass the strict screening of the organizing committee. The conference aims to share and discuss the scientific advances and technical challenges faced in the development and manufacturing of vaccines worldwide by bringing together leading figures in the field of vaccine production. The conference brought together more than 200 outstanding scientists and engineers from academia and industry in vaccine development and manufacturing to explore and exchange their research results and work insights during the five-day conference.

During the conference, Dr. Xuping Liu presented the latest research results of our team on the heterogeneity of mammalian cells for influenza virus production. The results focused on isolating several clonal strains by single-cell cloning techniques from MDCK suspension mother cells screening, assessing the variability of these clonal strains in their ability to produce influenza virus, and conducting in-depth studies on the stability of influenza virus production, viral replication kinetics, and metabolism and transcriptomics of representative high- and low-yielding cell lines. This study facilitates a deeper understanding of how to master the efficiency and stability of the process in the industrial production of viral vaccines using animal cells. Dr. Liu actively discussed our research results with researchers from different companies and research institutions, which were highly interesting and appreciated by industry professionals from different countries.

The picture showed Dr. Liu Xuping communicating with the participants of the conference

In April 2017, BioEngine and Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems (Germany) formally started the scientific cooperation, which is dedicated to the research and development of new technologies and processes for human influenza virus vaccine production based on high-density cell culture. In this meeting, Max Planck Institute presented the research results achieved at this stage of cooperation. The Xeno serum-free medium developed by our company can support the high-density growth of MDCK suspension cells and the high efficiency of influenza virus replication. The medium was successfully adapted to the original MDCK suspension cell line, enabling the new cell line to reach a density of 10 million per milliliter in batch culture mode, and using semi-perfusion on top of that, the cell density could reach more than 50 million per milliliter, achieving a very high virus yield.

The picture showed Dr. Xuping Liu and Max Planck Institute researchers presenting the results of their collaboration.

At the same time, Yixiao Wu, a Ph.D. student of the technical team who is studying at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, also attended the conference with Prof. Udo Reichl to present the results of the efficient production process of viruses based on chemically defined medium (CDM). With the advanced research platform of Max Planck Institute and relying on the CDM and domesticated MDCK suspension cell line developed by the team, Yixiao Wu successfully built a new efficient process for human influenza vaccine production, which is expected to be applied to the future industrial production of human influenza vaccine to meet the increasingly urgent demand for vaccine supply and production.

The picture showed Dr. Yixiao Wu communicating with the participants of the conference

During the exchange trip, our technology level attracted high attention from global colleagues, and the developed and produced culture media were also affirmed by many parties. Prof. Udo Reichl from Max Planck Institute said in the conference report that the development of culture media is a very important part of the production of virus vaccines based on cell culture, and the media developed by the BioEngine technology team is very effective in cell culture and the virus replication, which is very beneficial to the upstream of vaccine production. Researcher Yongzhi Hu from the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, National Institutes of Health, Taiwan, China, also expressed his high appreciation for the effectiveness of this medium. He said that after more than ten years of efforts, his laboratory has established the process of cell culture-based virus vaccine production and the system from virus construction, upstream production, downstream purification to vaccine immune evaluation, but if he can get the support of Bechtel Biologicals in technology and serum-free medium, it will make his established process more simple and efficient. After the meeting, both parties made further communication and discussion on the follow-up cooperation.

Since its establishment, BioEngine has been committed to providing technical support and technical services for biopharmaceutical companies at home and abroad, while also paying great attention to its R&D innovation and technology accumulation, reaching strategic cooperation with many research institutions at home and abroad, and continuously promoting the transformation and upgrading of products from made in China to "Intelligent Manufacturing in China".

The future is promising if you keep your feet on the ground! We are the "biological engine" of biopharmaceutical enterprises.