Annual meeting brings WORMVACS2.0 partners to Berlin

Annual meeting brings WORMVACS2.0 partners to Berlin  

On 28 and 29 October, WORMVACS2.0 partners met in Berlin for an annual meeting. With most partners from four continents joining in person and a few online, the hybrid meeting was full of lively, forward-looking discussions on the next steps in building knowledge on helminth vaccine development.

Following a welcome session by the coordinator, Dr Cornelis Hokke, the first day began with meetings in small thematic groups, allowing the participants to identify critical points of discussion they wanted to address together with the entire consortium during the two-day-meeting. Afterwards, each work group (also defined in the project as a work package) got the opportunity to present the progress made so far, outline upcoming steps, and jointly discuss questions, risks and opportunities.

The presentations ranged in topic from the set-up of a central data warehouse and dashboard, the combination of literature data and experimental data to prioritize vaccine target antigens, to the evaluation of the three vaccine production platforms used in the project and the set-up of rodent vaccination/challenge experiments in the next year.

One of the presentations was also held by Genos, a Croatian company that is a leader in glycomics and is currently discussing potential future collaboration with the consortium.

After all teams finished their work package presentations on the second day, a remotely connected Scientific Advisory Board member, Prof Rick Maizels, got the opportunity to interact with the consortium, providing his feedback and advice. He praised the group's progress towards key project goals, which, in addition to the production of vaccine candidates, include expanding knowledge on the immunology of helminth infections and contributing to the scientific research on some of the world’s most devastating and persistent neglected tropical diseases.

Before concluding the meeting, partners made sure they were ready for the next steps. They discussed their capacities for the next year, assessed potential risks and bottlenecks, and set up working groups on data and communications to facilitate the work in these areas.

With concrete plans for upcoming meetings set, the consortium left Berlin motivated and excited about the project's next phase.