NIIMBL Announces 3 New Vaccine Manufacturing Projects

Newark, DE - The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is pleased to announce approximately $1.7M in planned project activities through the Institute’s Global Health Fund (GHF) Project Call 6.1G for three new projects focused on the development of in vitro potency assays for vaccines being produced by mRNA and/or viral vector technologies. 

These projects were selected to best align with key focus areas identified by NIIMBL and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to address industry needs. The Global Health Fund was established by NIIMBL with funding contributed by BMGF to develop and implement innovative technologies for vaccine and biological manufacturing that will accelerate development timelines and lower the cost of manufacturing, all in furtherance of BMGF’s charitable objectives.

“NIIMBL is looking forward to adding these key projects to our GHF portfolio. These projects will allow us to further advance innovation in vaccine manufacturing, particularly around potency assays that are important for characterization of key quality aspects of vaccines,” says Chris Roberts, Associate Institute Director. “The recent pandemic highlighted several needs for vaccine development and manufacturing across multiple potential vaccine targets. These projects will make significant advances for vaccine manufacturing,” adds Roberts.

NIIMBL has awarded approximately 142 technical, workforce development, and Global Health Fund projects through the Project Call process with a total project investment of over $111M since 2017 when the Institute launched. The NIIMBL community is comprised of more than 200 members from academia, industry, government, and non-profit organizations. They all share the common goal of advancing biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

For a description of each project and to learn more about NIIMBL, visit the Project Call 6.1 website.

6.1 Project List

Project:

Versatile Platform for Speed and Simplicity in mRNA Potency Testing Draft

Lead: InDevR, Inc.

Project:

Advanced FISH Assay and Mechanism Hybrid Surrogate to Improve mRNA Vaccine Potency

Assessment and Prediction Draft

Lead: Northeastern University

Project:

Optimization of a mRNA Vaccine Potency Assay Platform for Global Use

Lead: PATH Center for Vaccines Innovation & Access

*All funding is subject to project agreement negotiations. 

About NIIMBL

The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is a public-private partnership whose mission is to accelerate biopharmaceutical innovation, support the development of standards that enable more efficient and rapid manufacturing capabilities, and educate and train a world-leading biopharmaceutical manufacturing workforce, fundamentally advancing U.S. competitiveness in this industry. NIIMBL is part of Manufacturing USA®, a diverse network of federally sponsored manufacturing innovation institutes, and is funded through a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Department of Commerce with significant additional support from its members.