The funding will support the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (FVMR Hub), set up originally in 2017 by Imperial College London with University of Bristol as a partner, to continue operations for a further five years, until 2029.

As part of this partnership, world-leading vaccine scientists at Bristol are working with one of Vietnam's major vaccine manufacturers, Vabiotech, to share their expertise in using a powerful recombinant production technology which relies on a synthetic baculovirus used as a production tool.  The technology, pioneered at Bristol, is uniquely suited for producing next-generation vaccines in large quantities in insect cells that can be easily cultured at low cost in Vietnam.

To mark the funding announcement, and to kick-off Vaccine Hub operations, University of Bristol researchers including Professor Imre Berger welcomed representatives from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK, the CEO and research team of Vabiotech, and leading vaccine scientists and Hub partners from Imperial College London with a reception in the Wills Memorial Building. The visit included a tour of Bristol’s high-tech facilities, including robotics laboratories, the cryogenic electron microscopy facility, and the new biosafety level 3 virology laboratories, all of which were established during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Berger, Director of the Max Planck-Bristol Centre for Minimal Biology at the University of Bristol and the Bristol FVMR Hub lead, said: "Our partner Vabiotech is particularly interested in using the technology we developed in Bristol to produce vaccines to combat rabies and avian flu, both major challenges in Vietnam. We saw just a few years ago how quickly avian flu, which began in Vietnam, developed into a global threat for humans around the world. Together with Vabiotech, we will put cutting-edge technology in place to afford cost-effective protection.