iBB

We are delighted to announce that our paper "Maximizing MRNA Vaccine Production with Bayesian Optimization" has been recognised by Wiley as one of the most downloaded papers in Biotechnology and Bioengineering!
The paper steams from a collaboration between researchers from IBB (Sara Rosa, Miguel Prazeres and Ana Azevedo), UCL (Marco Marques) and FCUL/LASIGE (David Nunes and Luis Antunes), and explores the innovative use of machine learning, specifically Bayesian optimisation, to advance the field of mRNA production.
This award is testament to the dedication and hard work of the team, as we continue to drive innovation and make significant contributions to the field of biotechnology.

Vaccines are one of the most important tools in public health and play an important role in infectious diseases control. mRNA vaccines are reaching the stoplight as a new alternative to conventional vaccines due to their precision, safe profile and flexible manufacturing. In fact, the first Covid-19 vaccines to receive regulatory approval are based on mRNA technology. In a joint review just published in Vaccine, Sara Sousa Rosa, Miguel Prazeres, Ana Azevedo from BERG-iBB, together with Marco Marques from University College London, describe the current state-of-art of mRNA vaccines, focusing on the challenges and bottlenecks of manufacturing that need to be addressed to turn this new vaccination technology into an effective, fast and cost-effective response to emerging health crises.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane vesicles fundamental for cellular communication processes. Either by taking advantage of EVs innate properties, or by loading them with therapeutic agents, EVs have emerged as cell-free strategies with diverse clinical applications. Indeed, when compared to mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), similar or better therapeutic benefits have been reported for MSC-derived EVs, thus explaining the increased interest in EVs over the years. Despite appealing features, EVs implementation in the clinic is still limited by technical difficulties, like robust isolation methods capable of delivering a high-quality product with high yield. In this work, published in the journal Separation and Purification Technology, we described anion exchange chromatography as a robust and better alternative to already implemented techniques. Following this strategy, more than 85% of injected EVs could be recovered, while complying with the stringencies set by regulatory agencies. This study developed at iBB was led by Dr. Ana Fernandes-Platzgummer and Prof. Ana Azevedo and co-first-authored by PhD students Ricardo Silva and Sara Sousa Rosa.