Researchers train in China
Four researchers from Utah State University received a grant from BARDA, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, to train scientists on how to make more and better vaccines to help control the influenza virus.
Kamal Rashid, Bart Tarbet, Shaun Barnett and James Dorward gave two week-long training sessions in Indonesia and Vietnam this September. The sessions allowed scientists from these countries to get a hands-on learning experience.
“The aim of the program, or the fund, is to help developing countries improve their vaccine production capabilities,” said Rashid. “They all have vaccine facilities. What we are trying to do is make them better at what they are doing, especially using cell-based vaccine production.”
Rashid said the vaccine production facilities in both countries, as well as in most of the world, use egg-based production. He said using this method has led and could lead to problems for the community.
“Cell-based is faster and more reliable, and then some people might be allergic to the eggs anyway,” Rashid said. “So if a vaccine is developed from egg, it may not be suitable for every person in the population.”
However, cell-based production could also prove difficult. James Dorward, the project’s evaluator, said the equipment needed would be expensive and the cells used would have to be separated and sorted beforehand.
“That whole process takes a while,” Dorward said. “That’s all stuff that needs to be done before you can start producing anything.”
Dorward said there were other challenges that appeared when they were giving instruction.
“There was a language barrier,” he said. “All the materials needed to be translated over into their native languages.”
According to Tarbet, there were other problems that hindered the work.
Tarbet said much of the equipment they needed to give the presentations, such as the virus and the vaccine, were hard to ship. He said many of the scientists they worked with had less training in virology, the study of viruses, than they were used to.
Even with the difficulties, Rashid said the training was a resounding success.
“This was a great experience for us,” Rashid said. “But also, it makes us feel really good about being able to put Utah State’s name forward.”
According to Rashid, two universities are given the opportunity to work with BARDA: Utah State University and North Carolina State University. This year, USU alone was given permission to work on-site with foreign scientists.
Tarbet said the BARDA grant was given to the university two years ago and normally, scientists from 13 participating countries come to USU to receive training.
“It is a three-week training program for employees from these developing country vaccine manufacturers,” Tarbet said. “We more or less have classes eight to five.”
Dorward said the trainings at the university were less effective than the trainings on-site.
“They trained on our equipment,” Dorward said. “Then they went back to their countries and they maybe didn’t have the same equipment or maybe the four that they sent were not in key positions to work in production. So by going to these countries, we were able to train a lot more of the people at these sites.”
Tarbet said the on-site training helped them focus in on what each country needed.
“When we have people from seven countries here, our instruction is much more general,” Tarbet said.
Tarbet said when he and the others were in the vaccine facilities it allowed them to “tailor-make” their training to each country’s individual needs.
“I think it was a valuable experience, not only for those scientists but for our scientists as well because we got to see what their challenges are and experience that first hand,” Dorward said. “And that makes a difference.”
– addison.m.t.hall@gmail.com