HET KWARTET MAGAZINE UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN 42.2022 21 VRAGEN “Er is, zeker sinds corona, vanuit de bedrijfswereld veel interesse omsamen tewerken”,merktMartinaBamberger (r.). Showpiece Vaccinopolis opens its doors Vaccinopolis, the new vaccine research centre at UAntwerp, opens its doors. The current outpatient studies of the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccinations (CEV) are moving to Vaccinopolis, but the new facility also has 30 beds that can accommodate people participating in Controlled Human Challenge Studies (CHIM). These are tests in which test subjects are first administered a candidate vaccine and then an attenuated version of a pathogen to see how the vaccine works. To ensure that these tests are safe – the pathogens must not escape to the outside world – Vaccinopolis is equipped with biosafety level 3 infrastructure. HEPA filters filter all incoming and outgoing air; strict disinfection procedures are in place; certain rooms have negative pressure; all windows are double glazed; and everything is sealed. ‘Nothing can really go outside’, says Bart Van Meerbergen, head of operations. Ilse De Coster, head doctor of the clinical trial team, explains that they research more than just vaccines against new diseases at Vaccinopolis. ‘We are also researching vaccines that we still want to refine, such as the flu vaccine, but we are also looking for the right intervention for diseases such as RSV, malaria or dengue fever.’ Belgium is the right place for the centre because we have the right type of expertise here, according to vaccinologist Pierre Van Damme. Valorisation manager Martina Bamberger says that there is already a lot of interest from the industry to have candidate vaccines tested here. E
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