WORMVACS2.0 cosortium kicks off the project!

The WORMVACs2.0 team in Leiden.

The WORMVACS2.0 consortium met at the Leiden University Medical Centre on 24&25 October 2023 for its kick-off meeting. The project is funded by Horizon Europe and brings together partners from research and medical centres, academia and industry to respond to the urgent need to develop effective vaccines to support control and elimination of schistosome and hookworm infections.

Infections with helminths (parasitic worms) caused by soil-transmitted hookworms and water-borne schistosomes cause a massive global health burden. To date, success of therapy is hampered by the lack of resistance against reinfection after drug treatment, and effective prophylactic vaccines against helminths do not exist. Therefore, WORMVACS2.0 will establish an effective pipeline to support helminth vaccine development.

The WORMVACS2.0 consortium has extensive expertise and skills in infection biology, immunoparasitology, clinic, plant biotechnology, drug and next-generation vaccine development, and strives to produce a diversified portfolio of hookworm and schistosome vaccine candidates ready for progressing to clinical testing, and to conduct a phase 1 clinical trial to advance an mRNA platform-based schistosomiasis vaccine. Ultimately, the ambitious aim of WORMVACS2.0 is to be able to control and eliminate one of the world's most devastating and persistent tropical diseases (NTDs).

The kick-off meeting was an opportunity for all consortium partners to meet face-to-face, discuss the challenges they will face during the development of the project and to develop an effective and detailed plan for the first year of WORMVACS2.0. The kick-off meeting included presentations on the project work packages, their objectives and tasks, a long break-out session to allow the partners to cooperatively discuss their to dos, and a mini symposium held by some of the consortium's most experienced professors.