Dataset Information

Biosecurity risks associated with vaccine platform technologies.

ABSTRACT: Vaccine platforms have been critical for accelerating the timeline of COVID-19 vaccine development. Faster vaccine timelines demand further development of these technologies. Currently investigated platform approaches include virally vectored and RNA-based vaccines, as well as DNA vaccines and recombinant protein expression system platforms, each featuring different advantages and challenges. Viral vector-based and DNA vaccines in particular have received a large share of research funding to date. Platform vaccine technologies may feature dual-use potential through informing or enabling pathogen engineering, which may raise the risk for the occurrence of deliberate, anthropogenic biological events. Research on virally vectored vaccines exhibits relatively high dual-use potential for two reasons. First, development of virally vectored vaccines may generate insights of particular dual-use concern such as techniques for circumventing pre-existing anti-vector immunity. Second, while the amount of work on viral vectors for gene therapy exceeds that for vaccine research, work on virally vectored vaccines may increase the number of individuals capable of engineering viruses of particular concern, such as ones closely related to smallpox. Other platform vaccine approaches, such as RNA vaccines, feature relatively little dual-use potential. The biosecurity risk associated with platform advancement may be minimised by focusing preferentially on circumventing anti-vector immunity with non-genetic rather than genetic modifications, using vectors that are not based on viruses pathogenic to humans, or preferential investment into promising RNA-based vaccine approaches. To reduce the risk of anthropogenic pandemics, structures for the governance of biotechnology and life science research with dual-use potential need to be reworked. Scientists outside of the pathogen research community, for instance those who work on viral vectors or oncolytic viruses, need to become more aware of the dual-use risks associated with their research. Both public and private research-funding bodies need to prioritise the evaluation and reduction of biosecurity risks.

SUBMITTER: Sandbrink JB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7904460 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Biosecurity risks associated with vaccine platform technologies.

Sandbrink Jonas B JB Koblentz Gregory D GD

Vaccine 20210225 17

Vaccine platforms have been critical for accelerating the timeline of COVID-19 vaccine development. Faster vaccine timelines demand further development of these technologies. Currently investigated platform approaches include virally vectored and RNA-based vaccines, as well as DNA vaccines and recombinant protein expression system platforms, each featuring different advantages and challenges. Viral vector-based and DNA vaccines in particular have received a large share of research funding to dat ...[more]

PMID: 33640142

Similar Datasets

Project description:Khapra beetle, Trogoderma granarium Everts, 1898, is a serious pest of stored grain products globally. Environmental DNA (eDNA)-based methods offer sensitive detection tools used to inform biosecurity officers on the presence of high-risk pests. This study tested laboratory and portable molecular technologies to detect khapra beetle environmental DNA extracted from dust samples collected during biosecurity responses (Tuggeranong and Fyshwick) to khapra beetle incursions in Australia. Airborne and floor dust samples were collected opportunistically using handheld vacuum cleaners and eDNA was extracted using either field or laboratory-based extraction methods and analyzed using laboratory benchtop real time PCR machines and portable machines with two TaqMan and one LAMP-based assay. We successfully collected, extracted, and amplified khapra beetle eDNA from dust samples by qPCR, but failed to amplify T. granarium eDNA using LAMP. The Laboratory qPCR machine showed significantly higher mean Ct values (p < 0.001) and significantly higher positive detections for both assays (p < 0.001) compared to the portable thermocycler. DNA yield was significantly higher in samples extracted using laboratory-based kits compared to field kits (p < 0.001) for both vacuumed and airborne samples (Mean DNA ± S.D. = 5.52 ± 4.45 and 4.77 ± 1.68 ng/μL, respectively), compared to field kits, (1.75 ± 1.17 and 1.36± 1.29 ng/μL for vacuumed and airborne samples, respectively). There were no significant differences in DNA yield between collection methods or differences in amplification associated to extraction or collection methods in either platform tested in this study. Portable technologies tested in this study (Franklin™ Real Time Thermocycler and Genie III) accurately amplified all tissue derived DNA during assay optimisation and field testing, highlighting the capacity of these technologies to complement biosecurity in confirming specimen ID. There was a high incidence of positive detections in field negative controls (Tuggeranong = 12.3 % and Fyshwick = 50 %), mostly attributed to the use of contaminated vacuum cleaners. We discuss suitable methods to minimize sample cross-contamination, the potential of portable molecular technologies as tools for biosecurity applications, and the suitability of eDNA-based molecular detection methods to complement global trade biosecurity for one of the most invasive and important grain pests worldwide.

Project description:Human-mediated transport of species outside their natural range is a rapidly growing threat to biodiversity, particularly for island ecosystems that have evolved in isolation. The genetic structure underpinning island populations will largely determine their response to increased transport and thus help to inform biosecurity management. However, this information is severely lacking for some groups, such as the soil fauna. We therefore analysed the phylogeographic structure of an indigenous and an invasive springtail species (Collembola: Poduromorpha), each distributed across multiple remote sub-Antarctic islands, where human activity is currently intensifying. For both species, we generated a genome-wide SNP data set and additionally analysed all available COI barcodes. Genetic differentiation in the indigenous springtail Tullbergia bisetosa is substantial among (and, to a lesser degree, within) islands, reflecting low dispersal and historic population fragmentation, while COI patterns reveal ancestral signatures of postglacial recolonization. This pronounced geographic structure demonstrates the key role of allopatric divergence in shaping the region's diversity and highlights the vulnerability of indigenous populations to genetic homogenization via human transport. For the invasive species Hypogastrura viatica, nuclear genetic structure is much less apparent, particularly for islands linked by regular shipping, while diverged COI haplotypes indicate multiple independent introductions to each island. Thus, human transport has likely facilitated this species' persistence since its initial colonization, through the ongoing introduction and inter-island spread of genetic variation. These findings highlight the different evolutionary consequences of human transport for indigenous and invasive soil species. Crucially, both outcomes demonstrate the need for improved intraregional biosecurity among remote island systems, where the policy focus to date has been on external introductions.

Dataset Information

Biosecurity risks associated with vaccine platform technologies.

Publications

Biosecurity risks associated with vaccine platform technologies.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets