Rapid Response Vaccine Pipeline
Project summary
In 2020, the Pipeline responded to CEPIs emergency call and progressed a COVID-19 vaccine candidate from sequence information to clinical trial dosing within 6 months, making it one of the first vaccines to enter clinical trials globally. In phase I clinical trials, UQ's COVID-19 vaccine was shown to be safe and produce a strong neutralising immune response, however the initial version was not progressed due to the induction of response that interfered with some HIV diagnostic tests. Keith Chappell’s team at AIBN successfully reengineered the technology to ensure that Molecular Clamp platform vaccines will not cause diagnostic interference, and a Phase 1 clinical trial of Molecular Clamp 2 vaccine platform in 2023 demonstrated that a Clamp2 Sars-Cov-2 vaccine was as safe and as effective as a licenced comparator.
The Rapid Response Vaccine Pipeline team have since developed a vaccine for highly pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 which is safe, highly manufacturable, and has shown to be able to induce an effective, protective immune response in challenge studies.
Pressure testing of the pipeline was a key goal to optimise the timeline and improve future response times. A first pressure test of the pipeline was performed in 2025 which led to improvements and optimisations in our processes and the addition of a vaccine for Chapare mammarenavirus to the Clamp2 vaccine library at UQ. In 2026, the team embarked on a second pressure test of the pipeline, focus on Canine coronavirus CCOV, which demonstrated improvements in response times and provided new avenues for improvements and techniques to utilise in future pipeline activations.
The Molecular Clamp technology stands ready to respond rapidly with safe and effective vaccines in the face of future outbreaks or potential pandemics.
Publications
Chappell, Keith J., Mordant, Francesca L., Amarilla, Alberto A., Modhiran, Naphak, Liang, Benjamin, Li, Zheyi, Lackenby, Julia A., Jaberolansar, Noushin, O’Donnell, Jake, Kienzle, Vivian, Kommajosyula, Varsha, Tardiota, Nicolas, Bennet, Jillian K., Henderson, Christina L., Dalrymple, Rhiannon L., Goh, Justin, Hoger, Kym, Gillard, Marianne, Jones, Martina L., Hughes, Karen, Hughes, Ben, Barnes, James, Reading, Patrick C., Ranasinghe, Charani, Subbarao, Kanta, Munro, Trent P., Young, Paul R. and Watterson, Daniel (2026). Safety and immunogenicity of a SARS-CoV-2 spike, subunit vaccine stabilised in the prefusion conformation by second generation Molecular Clamp evaluated in adults aged 18–55 years: a randomised, double-blind, active comparator, Phase I trial. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 233 (2) jiaf568, e373-e382. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaf568
Keith J Chappell, Francesca L Mordant, Alberto A Amarilla, Naphak Modhiran, Benjamin Liang, Zheyi Li, Julia A Lackenby, Noushin Jaberolansar, Jake O’Donnell, Vivian Kienzle, Varsha Kommajosyula, Jillian K Bennet, Christina L Henderson, Rhiannon L Dalrymple, Kym Hoger, Marianne Gillard, Martina L Jones, Karen Hughes, Ben Hughes, James Barnes, Patrick C Reading, Charani Ranasinghe, Kanta Subbarao, Trent P Munro, Paul R Young, Daniel Watterson. Safety and immunogenicity of a SARS-CoV-2 spike, subunit vaccine stabilised in the prefusion conformation by second generation Molecular Clamp for in adults aged 18–55: a randomised, double-blind, active comparator, Phase 1 trial, Journal of infectious diseases, 2025, jiaf568
Chappell KJ, Mordant FL, Amarilla AA, et al. Long-term safety and immunogenicity of an MF59-adjuvanted spike glycoprotein-clamp vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 in adults aged 18-55 years or >/=56 years: 12-month results from a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1 trial. EBioMedicine 2023; 97:104842.
Chappell KJ, Mordant FL, Li Z, et al. Safety and immunogenicity of an MF59-adjuvanted spike glycoprotein-clamp vaccine for SARS-CoV-2: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1 trial. Lancet Infect Dis 2021.
Wijesundara DK, Avumegah MS, Lackenby J, et al. Rapid Response Subunit Vaccine Design in the Absence of Structural Information. Front Immunol 2020; 11:592370.
O'Donnell JS, Isaacs A, Jakob V, et al. Characterization and comparison of novel adjuvants for a prefusion clamped MERS vaccine. Front Immunol 2022; 13:976968.