Within the Erciyes University Vaccine Research and Development Application and Research Center (ERAGEM), vaccine development efforts are focused on Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), COVID-19, and rotavirus, which can pose a significant risk in childhood.
The Phase 1 trials for the inactivated vaccine developed against CCHF have been completed, while the preclinical phase of the recombinant adenovirus vector-based vaccine has been concluded. For COVID-19, the preclinical and clinical phases of the inactivated vaccine were successfully completed, resulting in the emergency use authorization of the TURKOVAC vaccine. Additionally, monovalent, bivalent, and trivalent vaccines targeting various COVID-19 variants have been tested on experimental animals, yielding positive results. Preclinical studies of the recombinant protein-based vaccine for rotavirus are ongoing. Furthermore, efforts are underway to advance the adenovirus vector-based vaccine for CCHF, which has successfully completed immunization studies in animal models, to the clinical trial phase.
Virological research is being conducted on virus isolation, characterization, identification of suitable animal models, and pathogenicity of viruses in experimental animals, which are key steps in vaccine development.
Viral genome characterization, a critical data point in the vaccine development process, is performed using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology. As a result, the genomic maps of key variants of the isolated CCHF and SARS-CoV-2 viruses have been generated. Some of the isolated strains are listed below:
SARS-CoV-2 wild type (SARS-CoV-2/human/TUR/ERAGEM-001/2020)
SARS-CoV-2 Alpha (SARS-CoV-2/human/TUR/ERAGEM-ALP-1102/2021)
SARS-CoV-2 Delta (SARS-CoV-2/human/TUR/ERAGEM-DEL-1103/2021)
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (SARS-CoV-2/human/TUR/ERAGEM-OM-1104/2022)
SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.9.1 (SARS-CoV-2/human/TUR/ERAGEM-XBB.19.9.1/2023)
Monoclonal antibody production is another significant research area at the center.
Document reviewThis includes developing hybridoma cell lines, determining their stability, and investigating the neutralizing properties of the produced antibodies. The stability of hybridoma cell lines targeting glycoproteins of the CCHF virus and the neutralizing capacity of the monoclonal antibodies produced from these lines have been examined. Further research is ongoing to develop hybridoma cell lines for various viral agents.
In addition to vaccine development, research is being conducted on the recombinant production of viral proteins, which are crucial for viral diagnostic kits.
These studies include the production and evaluation of biological activity of viral proteins using eukaryotic (such as Expi293F, Sf9) and prokaryotic (E. coli) expression systems. For CCHF, the production and biological activity of nucleoprotein (NP) were thoroughly studied using the E. coli expression system. Additionally, ongoing research is focused on baculovirus-based expression systems for COVID-19.
