The 1st part of the work performed has been to assess and create an inventory of the resource, the skills and the technical features available inside the consortium, as related to:
- the collection of viruses ranging from RG2 to RG4, including protocols for virus characterization, isolation, preservation and inactivation
- the production of derived materials including antibodies and antigens, reagents for PCR assays and protein expression systems
- the use of small animal models, including both vertebrate and invertebrate in vivo systems, to study infectivity of viruses from RG2 to RG4 in the context of vector-borne infection
The consortium gives access to “gold standard” material by the use of the up-to-date techniques. A quality manager heads a group of quality experts representing the EVAg institutes. The Quality management system in place includes internal audits, recommendations and guidelines related to GMP. Audits have been carried out and the 1st Quality reports have been drafted and discussed with the institutes visited for follow up at the practice level.
The initial source of the material in the archive was that in collections of the partners of the past EVA project. The extension of this catalog will be achieved through 2 means. The 1st relies on the extension of the network by the incorporation of new partners from EU and non-EU countries. Agreements with new key institutes or networks have been signed. Also, the association of partners belonging to other networks is formalized through a MoU, and includes partners of the GABRIEL and the IP Extra-Metropolitan networks. The 2nd means concerns the identification of very specific collections in low-income countries.
A specific task is dedicated to the support provided in the case of a major virus outbreak at the worldwide scale. The support consists of the provision of material and skills to manage the control of emerging viral diseases. Two recent outbreaks have already drawn on EVAg’s Support to response. During the EBOLA outbreak many partners were mobilized to send their staff on the field in the Western African countries. During the ZIKA outbreak, partners invested time and resources in the preparation of reagents to improve molecular and serological assays to detect the disease and to diagnose infected patients. Specific assistance has also been provided to the pharmaceutical industry for the preparation of drugs and vaccines, and license agreements are under negotiation.
The supply of bio-resource includes 2 major aspects. The 1st is to organize and to expand what the archive offers; the 2nd is to organize and to develop the supply of material to end users.
Since the beginning of the project major improvements to the website have been implemented to increase attractiveness and accessibility. Approximately 200 visits are recorded every day. The public catalog contains 1120 products, 500 additional products are currently in the quality improvement process.
A specific centralized procedure has been implemented to facilitate the supply of the bio-resource to end user. The supply activity curve exceeds the trends of the past EVA project, since the start of the EVAg project: 800 products have been supplied.
The objectives of the Transfer of Knowledge dimension are, for the internal communication, to generate a sense of community in the Consortium and to enhance the number of products available in the database; concerning the external communication, to generate more visits to the catalog, to disseminate and to promote activities and results, to communicate with external stakeholders.
At the start of EVAg, management activities were concentrated on the drafting of legal documents (CA, MTA, MoU) and on their adoption by the partners. An exhaustive assessment of the networks and related infrastructures with whom we must still enter into formal collaborations has been prepared.
EVAg has already tight connections with relevant key ESFRI infrastructures (BBMRI-ERIC, ERINHA, MIRRI). To reach a stage where further integration development could be foreseen, a well document business plan has to be drafted to support the business model which currently exists.
