MULTI-COLUMN CHROMATOGRAPHIC PURIFICATION OF INFLUENZA VIRUS-LIKE PARTICLES Sofia Carvalho, iBET/ITQB-UNL

摘要

Seasonal Influenza occurs all over the world and causes approximately 500 million cases of infection and up to 500 thousand deaths annually. The most effective way to prevent the disease is throughout vaccination. However, the constant antigenic drift on the influenza virus implies an annually vaccine update with high inherent costs. A new generation of virus-like particles (VLPs) vaccines, that have the ability to stimulate the production of broad antibody response to different Influenza strains, is a promising approach to solve this problem. VLPs have become a promising solution for influenza pandemics as well. The high attractiveness of VLPs has led to an increasing interest in the development of VLP purification processes as it often accounts for the major production costs. Therefore, it is mandatory to improve downstream processing (DSP) trains, not only to increase the efficiency of the existing processes but also to develop new unit operations capable of coping with the stringent regulatory requirements.