GENEART Receives a Grant for the Targeted Design of Vaccine

Tag : avian influenza

REGENSBURG, GERMANY, Jul 10, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) ----
Regensburg, July 10, 2008 - GENEART AG, the global leader in genesynthesis and specialist in the field of Synthetic Biology,participates in a joint project to develop a novel vaccinetechnology by designing a vaccine against the H5N1 avian influenzavirus as a test case. GENEART receives a quarter of the totalpublic project funding of about EUR 0.8M. The project offersGENEART another opportunity to advance the company's expertise inthe conceptual design of safe and effective vaccines. Moreover, theproject also feeds into the company's rapidly advancing work on thetargeted design of proteins.
The project entitled "Crossbeta Adjuvation of the H5 SubunitVaccine against the Influenza Virus H5N1: A new Technology foraquiring an Unmet Need" is part of the EuroTransBio Initiative(ETB) and is coordinated by the Dutch company CrossbetaBiosciences. The objective is the development of novel vaccinetechnologies based on certain misfoldings in proteins, calledcrossbeta structures. In the past, various studies have shown thatthese crossbeta structures boost desired immune responses.Crossbeta structures help the immune system to recognize viralproteins as antigens, and therefore are properly suited for the useas immune stimulators (immunological adjuvants). Already today,many vaccines contain adjuvants to boost the immune response in avaccinated person. So far, however, the available choices ofadjuvants for human vaccinations are very limited. The projectpartners will develop a technique for the general use of crossbetastructures in protein-based vaccine strategies.
Aside from optimizing the gene sequences using the proprietaryGENEART GeneOptimizer(R) technology for the efficient production ofthe vaccine, GENEART will also use an iterative process to optimizethe design of the desired protein antigen. The objective is theproduction of an antigen that shows the optimal crossbeta structurefor the desired immune response.
Professor Dr. Ralf Wagner, CEO of the GENEART AG, comments: "Thisproject supports our activities in the area of targeted proteindesign. Today, we are the global leaders in the design ofcustomized genes. In the medium term, we plan to extend ourbusiness and leadership role by offering the design of customizedproteins as well. This does not only complement our currentservices but also adds additional value for our customers, forexample in the pharmaceutical industry."
Further scientific information is available under www.crossbeta.com
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This document may contain estimates, prognoses and opinions aboutcompany plans and objectives, products or services, future results,opinions about these results or opinions leading up to theseresults. All these projections into the future are subject to risk,uncertainty and unforeseeable change outside the control of theGENEART Group. Many factors may lead to actual results, whichconsiderably deviate from the given projections for these results.
About GENEART AG
In 2000, GENEART entered the gene synthesis market and has sincebecome the global market leader. Today, the company is one of theleading specialists in the Synthetic Biology field. Experts atGENEART provide key technologies for the development and productionof new therapeutics and vaccines. Customers also take advantage ofGENEART services to customize enzyme attributes, such as theattributes of enzymes used as detergent additives, and to constructbacteria, which produce complex biopolymers or break down polymers,such as synthetics, petroleum components, etc. Our production andservice spectrum spans a wide range, from the production ofsynthetic genes according to DIN EN ISO 9001-2000, to the creationof gene libraries in the combinatorial biology, to the developmentand production of DNA-based biologically active substances. TheGENEART AG in Regensburg (Germany) and the subsidiary GENEART Inc.in Toronto (Canada) employ more than 190 people. Since May 2006,GENEART is listed on the German Stock Exchange.
About Crossbeta Biosciences BV
Crossbeta Biosciences is a spin-off biotechnology company of theUniversity Medical Center Utrecht and the University of Utrecht,the Netherlands. Crossbeta Biosciences offers innovative solutionsfor vaccine adjuvation and develops a drug discovery platform toprovide dedicated solutions for the detection and treatment ofdiseases that are caused by misfolded proteins. A key discovery atCrossbeta Biosciences was the recognition of a non-native proteinfold, the crossbeta structure, as an immunogenic entity that isable to induce a desired immune response when used as a vaccine,and that should be removed in order to prevent unwanted immuneresponses inflicted by for example aggregates in biologicals. InJune 2008, Crossbeta Biosciences moved from the UMC Utrechtlaboratories to its own facilities at the campus of the Universityof Utrecht. Today's crew of nine employees is about to be expandedto twenty plus for increasing our R&D activities in vaccinedevelopment and drug discovery platform development.