Baculovirusgroup: Vector Design for Protein Expression and Gene Delivery

Our main focus is directed towards protein expression design, cellular engineering and systems biology approaches for the production of functional proteins, virus like particles and infectious viruses. Our goals are influenza virus vaccine design in insect cells and mammalian cells as well as improving cell factories in general for production of functional proteins (e.g. enzymes) and DNA (DNA vaccine). Our core competence is design of expression cassettes and genetic engineering of production strains, needed for pharmaceutical and industrial biotechnology.

In the past we have established a baculovirus surface display system which now serves to generate antibody-like proteins that specifically bind to chosen targets. This project is in collaboration with f-star GmbH.

We have developed a large set of baculoviral vectors for influenza vaccine design and generation in insect and mammalian cells. For the past 10 years this research project has been funded by the FWF, Austria. During these years we established baculovirus display techniques, improved baculoviruses for delivery into mammalian cells and various strategies to produce virus like particles of influenza A and B, as well as a baculovirus based transduction protocol for reverse genetics of influenza virus in mammalian cells.

In collaboration with FFG, Austria and Boehringer Ingelheim Austria we generated several engineered E. coli strains that provide antibiotic free plasmid selection and production, to be used in gene therapy. These strains are safer and give higher yields of plasmid DNA during the production process. Improvement and better understanding by systematic analyses of the plasmid replication mechanism and its bottle-necks are currently on-going.

We further have projects within the field of feed and food technology. We successfully finished a project with Biomin to enzymatically detoxify mycotoxins in animal feed.

In collaboration with Lactosan, we have successfully started to apply our genetic engineering expertise to lactic acid bacteria, in order to make more expression systems available for specific applications in biotechnology.