16 January 2012
TRANSVAC CALL FOR SERVICES - NEXT CUT-OFF DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 31 JANUARY 2012
The deadline for the fifth round of applications for access to the TRANSVAC infrastructure services is 31 January 2012.
Eleven projects have been funded so far. There are free service slots remaining in 1) animal models, 2) adjuvants formulation of your antigen, 3) reagent supply and development by NIBSC, and finally, 4) global analyses platform (microarrays/deep sequencing) for e.g. biomarker research.
The call will remain open for the duration of the project or until all of the services have been exhausted. Applications will be processed in batches.

16 January 2012
TRANSVAC CALL FOR PARTNERS
In order to sustain vaccine research infrastructure in Europe, the TRANSVAC consortium will consider the integration of new partners into the TRANSVAC infrastructure, mainly when they can offer are services which are not covered by the current work plan.
The deadline for applications is 15 March 2012.

1st July 2011
TRANSVAC FUNDS SEVEN PROJECTS IN ITS FIRST TWO ROUNDS FOR APPLICATIONS
TRANSVAC has so far supported 7 projects: 4 in the 1st and 3 in the 2nd round for applications. The projects have started / will start shortly and use the following Services: the experimental non-human primate model facility at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC), the Netherlands; the ILLUMINA Deep Sequencing facility at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Germany; the Services of the Vaccine formulation laboratory - World Health Organization Collaborating Centre - University of Lausanne, Switzerland; the AGILENT Microarrays Service of Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany ; Large Animal studies at the Central Veterinary Institute of Wageningen UR (former partner: ID-Lelystad (IDL), Animal Sciences Group of Wageningen UR), the Netherlands.
Detailed information on Users and project titles can be found in the Selected Projects section.

23 June 2011
TRANSVAC TO HOLD FIRST EUROPEAN VACCINE DEVELOPMENT STAKEHOLDERS WORKING GROUP MEETING IN OCTOBER
TRANSVAC is exploring the implementation of a road map towards a sustainable vaccine research infrastructure in Europe beyond TRANSVAC.
To this end the first of a series of European Vaccine Development Stakeholders Working Group meetings will be held in Brussels on 7 October. TRANSVAC is committed to formulating a European vaccine development road map, the main goals of which are: 1) To create an environment in which innovation, technology development and knowledge transfer can thrive, and 2) To establish infrastructures that will secure vaccine R&D and manufacturing in Europe.

17 May 2011
TRANSVAC PROJECT: 1ST WORKSHOP ON ANIMAL MODELS, 12 MAY 2011, NL
On May 12th the TRANSVAC project organised a workshop on animal models at CV-I Lelystad (NL) titled: “From Bench to Trench? Necessity of animal models in pre-clinical vaccine research: required evidence for efficacy and safety.” A total of 30 people from all over Europe met during this day-long meeting. The use of animal models in vaccine research was discussed from different points-of-view. Jan-Willem van der Laan (RIVM)  spoke from the perspective of a regulator while Barry Walker (NIBSC) and Mark Doherty (GSK) highlighted the choices a scientist has to make when working with different animal models. Ed Remarque (BPRC) eloquently taught the audience statistics by presenting  linear effect models in the evaluation of pre-clinical vaccine studies, while Norbert Stockhofe (CVI) made the case for the use of large animals as models. Miranda van Tuyl (NOTOX) presented the perspective of a Contract Research Organisation (CRO).  Finally Jeffrey Bajaramovic (BPRC) introduced the audience to possible alternatives for the use of live animals during vaccine safety testing such as in vitro TLR activation measurement.
A second workshop will be held later this year. Please check the TRANSVAC website regularly for updates.
TRANSVAC would like to thank all attendees, speakers and the organisers for making the event a success.