The AIDS Vaccine Design and Development Laboratory occupies a central place in IAVI’s global science efforts.

It was established to bridge the gap between laboratory research, often conducted in academic settings, and the crucial processes of product development that the pharmaceutical industry has mastered. That gap, the bane of many academic efforts at vaccine and drug development, has long hampered the advancement of promising concepts from the laboratory bench to the production line.

To ensure that candidate vaccines cross this chasm quickly, IAVI has staffed the Design Lab with scientists from both top-rung academic programs and leading vaccine and biotechnology companies.

Located in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, the 36,000 sq. ft. facility is the only laboratory exclusively dedicated to the design and development of AIDS vaccines. The lab focuses on the following areas:

• The design and development of vectors for the optimal delivery and targeting of AIDS vaccines
• The design of immunogens to elicit neutralizing antibodies against HIV—especially broadly neutralizing antibodies capable of targeting a broad spectrum of HIV types
• Analyzing the interaction between the simian immunodeficiency virus and the immune system of the nonhuman primate to seek out clues for the better design of HIV vaccines. This includes both developing and running assays to assist researchers collaborating with IAVI in this vital research.
• The testing and prioritization of novel vaccine concepts for further development
• The development and standardization of assays to assess prototype and candidate vaccines in animal studies, and the production of reagents vital to the vaccine discovery research in which IAVI is directly involved
• Scientific leadership for IAVI’s Live Attenuated Consortium and Vectors Consortium
  

The Design Lab is integrated into IAVI’s global research and development program through collaborations with the Human Immunology Laboratory in the UK and the Scripps Research Center in La Jolla, CA. It also has an ongoing partnership with India’s Department of Biotechnology to explore a novel approach to creating immunogens—replicas of antigens that are the active ingredients of vaccines—for AIDS vaccine candidates.