InVitria, the non-therapeutic products division of Ventria Bioscience, has received a two year small business innovation research program (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
The grant worth $1.5m will support the development of animal-free, defined cell culture media for the commercial production of cell-based vaccines using InVitria's cell culture supplements.
The funds will support a collaborative research and development effort between InVitria, The Institute for Antiviral Research at Utah State University, SoloHill Engineering and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases.
InVitria cell culture development director, grant principal investigator Steven Pettit said the company's goal is to develop a replacement that mitigates the risks associated with using serum and other animal-derived components without sacrificing performance.
The grant aims to formulate defined media optimized for maximum cell density, extended cell viability and maximum antigen yield in the Vero cell line when it is grown using microcarriers, roller bottles and bioreactors.
The antigenicity of vaccine components produced using the media will also be compared.
Ventria president and CEO Scott Deeter said, "We expect that the use of animal-free cell culture supplements in place of animal-derived components will enable the development of a defined, animal-free cell culture medium that provides superior performance at a lower cost and, at the same time, answers the call by agencies for a safer alternative to animal-derived components used in vaccine production."