SRI International Awarded DARPA Subcontract To Accelerate Vaccine Manufacturing Process

Menlo Park, CA - SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, announced recently that it will collaborate with Neugenesis Corporation, a biotechnology company developing complex protein biotherapeutics, to develop technologies for the rapid manufacturing of vaccines and drugs. The SRI-awarded subcontract is part of a major contract awarded to Neugenesis by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Having a rapid "just-in-time" production capability for vaccines and therapeutics will reduce the need for stockpiling and enhance the military's ability to respond to biological threats. "We are eager to lead the program integration efforts of this important DARPA contract and to develop the analytical technologies needed to meet the program's development goals," said Rae Lyn Burke, Ph.D., senior director, Center of Excellence for Infectious Disease and Biodefense at SRI International. "Our decades of experience in pharmaceutical development will be important assets in achieving the ambitious goals of the program."

The project will focus on the development of technology to accelerate recombinant protein manufacturing using Neugenesis' fungal expression technology. SRI will be responsible for project integration management and for tracking product quality. Researchers from SRI's new Center for Advanced Drug Research (CADRE) in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia will evaluate and apply emerging techniques in protein characterization to perform protein biochemistry and mass spectrometry studies. State-of-the-art proteomics technologies will be used to identify and quantify proteins of interest rapidly.

SOURCE: SRI International