Fig. 1. iVAX platform enables on-demand and portable production of antibacterial vaccines.

The iVAX platform provides a rapid means to develop and distribute conjugate vaccines against bacterial pathogens. Expression of pathogen-specific polysaccharide antigens (e.g., CPS and O-PS) and a bacterial oligosaccharyltransferase enzyme in nonpathogenic E. coli with detoxified lipid A yields low-endotoxin lysates containing all of the machinery required for synthesis of conjugate vaccines. Reactions catalyzed by iVAX lysates can be used to produce conjugates containing licensed carrier proteins and can be freeze-dried without loss of activity for refrigeration-free transportation and storage. Freeze-dried reactions can be activated at the point of care via simple rehydration and used to reproducibly synthesize immunologically active conjugate vaccines in ~1 hour.