Switzerland creates new centre for vaccine research

The Institute will develop an immunology, microbiology and vaccine research laboratory platform to encourage cooperation between scientists working in the field of HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, influenza and cancer vaccine development in Switzerland, from fundamental to clinical researchers.

Vaccines against hepatitis C, Dengue fever and other infectious agents may be developed at a later date.

The Institute will initially be based on a partnership between the following Swiss institutions:

• The Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and the Faculty of Biology and Medicine (FBM) of the University of Lausanne (UNIL),
• the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),
• the Institute for Biomedical Research in Bellinzona (IRB),
• and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne branch in Epalinges (LICR).

These four institutions have a strong tradition in the fields of immunology, virology, and vaccines against HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and cancer. The new Institute will further seek collaboration with other Swiss institutions.

The new Institute also aims to train new generations of scientists in the field of vaccines, by creating several new research groups. The Institute will work with the most prominent public and private organizations involved in vaccine development and will also encourage cooperation with industrial partners.

The Swiss Institute for Vaccine Research will initially be based on four partner institutions, selected for their scientific competence and clinical or laboratory infrastructures.

The CHUV will conduct the translational and immunology programmes for the evaluation of immune responses induced by a vaccine. The CHUV will also make available its clinical trial infrastructure.

The EPFL will conduct the fundamental research programme in virology, microbiology and vectorology. The ease of access to robotics and microtechnics will be of prime importance for the development of new high flow and automated immunology tests. The EPFL will also make available the infrastructures for proteomics, microscopic and biomedical imaging, protein production, genomics, and high flow biomolecular screening.

The IRB will conduct the fundamental research programme in immunology with, as its main objective, the characterization of T cell memory and the study of the mechanisms causing T cell responses.

The LICR will conduct a fundamental research programme in immunology aimed at characterizing specific tumour responses generated by vaccination.

The launch of the Swiss Institute for Vaccine Research will take place on December 5, 2007, at 17 :00 CET, in Lausanne, Switzerland, in the presence of the Swiss Secretary of State for Education and Research, Charles Kleiber, representatives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as leading US specialists in HIV/AIDS research.