Rapid, accessible, globally distributed RNA vaccine manufacture on demand

One of the greatest challenges faced by humanity is to eliminate the existential threat of infectious diseases including zoonotic pandemics such as the threat of a future Disease X. The UK has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a long-term legacy from its COVID19 investments to build a world-leading industry that allows humanity to mitigate, or even eliminate, infectious diseases in an environmentally sustainable and economically accessible manner. Vaccines are one of the great success stories of modern medicine, having eradicated or controlled many severe infections of major global importance and improved the lives of millions. However, whilst significant progress has been made in developing new vaccine technologies such as synthetic RNA vaccines, COVID19 has demonstrated the many challenges and inefficiencies of classical vaccine manufacturing approaches, preventing rapid global access by millions of people. BiologIC Technologies brings disruptive industry 4.0 technology that enables distributed end-to-end biomanufacturing. The objective is to build a medical technology for rapid, economically accessible, environmentally sustainable, globally distributed, end-to-end RNA vaccine manufacture on demand. The system will substantially reduce vaccine costs and distribute flexible manufacturing to any point of need in the rapidly evolving supply chain. The system is inspired by computer architectures for rapid scale out production. Substantial innovations within the system include the novel application of 3D-printed bioprocessors in continuous manufacturing, new bioprocess flows enabled by integrated Process Analytical Technology to significantly reduce vaccine cost and implementation of a disruptive technology for distributed manufacture. Supported by Centre for Process Innovation, who will advise on mRNA vaccine constructs and bioprocesses, particular benefits of this project include reducing deaths and illness from infectious diseases by providing affordable and equitable access to vaccines by people of diverse socio-economic groups on demand around the world. The project will deliver direct commercial benefit in the promising field of RNA vaccines, creating a COVID19 vaccine legacy and establishing the UK as a global leader in this new synthetic biology industry.