Vaccine for the entire world

It was 20 years ago that a doctoral student at the German University of Tübingen laboratory stumbled upon an unexpected phenomenon. Searching for new vaccine substances, the biologist injected mice with liposome-encapsulated RNA samples, which contain instructions for the manufacture of proteins. The body ought to recognize the protein produced by the cells as a foreign substance and trigger a defensive response. After injecting unencapsulated RNA into a control group, the young student made a surprising discovery: against all expectations, the bare RNA without a protective liposome coating triggered a strong immune response.

The young researcher at the University of Tübingen laboratory was Dr Ingmar Hoerr. One year after his serendipitous discovery, together with fellow students Dr Florian von der Mülbe and Dr Steve Pascolo and his  professors Dr Hans-Georg Rammensee and Dr Günther Jung, Ingmar Hoerr founded CureVac, a company that specialized in the research and development of innovative pharmaceuticals based on messenger RNA  (mRNA). The idea was that if researchers could find a way to stabilize the new method, the human body would be in a position to manufacture its own medications and vaccines. Ingmar Hoerr and his co-founders fought  long and hard for the technology, as few in the industry recognized its potential. It wasn’t until the coronavirus pandemic that a breakthrough was finally achieved. The technology is the foundation of the most promising vaccine against Covid-19.

As a full-service supplier, Endress+Hauser was CureVac’s partner of choice for the measurement instrumentation and is currently helping the company to rapidly expand its production capacity. Another, even larger, plant is being built on the Tübingen campus, which is scheduled to go into operation in 2022 with an estimated capacity of billions of vaccine doses annually. “Standardization of the instrumentation was important to CureVac as a way to simplify the work of the production workforce,” explains Philipp Garbers. The company also profits from Endress+Hauser’s industry knowledge and calibration expertise. “In the pharmaceutical industry, the initial calibration of critical measuring points must be performed on-site in the qualification phase of new plants,” explains Philipp Garbers. “Endress+Hauser is one of the few companies in Germany with the capability to carry out these types of calibrations on-site for a wide range of parameters.”