AilseVax, a Specialist in Cancer Vaccines, Emerges as the 100th Spin-Out Company from Queen's University

AilseVax, a startup firm that is dedicated to developing the next generation of cancer vaccines, has recently emerged as the 100th company to spin out of Queen's University laboratories in Belfast.

AilseVax, which has secured £1.5 million in seed funding from a consortium of investors, is poised to identify and create innovative therapeutic vaccines that harness the power of the immune system to combat cancer. The company's mission is to provide cancer patients with cutting-edge treatment options.

Cancer vaccines, classified as immunotherapy, function by instructing the immune system to recognize the visual appearance of cancer cells. This education allows the immune system to use its own defenses to detect and eliminate the cancer cells, resulting in destruction of the disease with the help of the body's natural mechanisms.

AilseVax has secured a seed investment of £1.5 million from a diverse group of investors. QUBIS, the commercialization branch of Queen's University, along with Co Fund NI and TechStart NI as part of Invest NI's Access to Finance fund suite, and Sapphire Capital, all contributed to the funding. Additionally, AilseVax received grants from Biomedical Catalyst, InnovateUK, and Invest NI to support its innovative work in developing cancer vaccines.

Dr. Paul Kerr, the CEO of AilseVax, expressed satisfaction with the backing from the investors and the competitive grant funding that will help advance the company's goal of creating innovative cancer vaccine therapies. This funding will enable AilseVax to speed up its research and transition promising therapies to clinical trials, leading to improved outcomes for cancer patients.

AilseVax is situated in Belfast and emerged as a spin-out company from Queen's University and Trinity College Dublin (TCD), two of the foremost research institutions on the island of Ireland.

The partnership was built on a decade long academic collaboration in the cancer vaccine field and was aided . This partnership was supported by the Ireland-Northern Ireland-US National Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium, established in 1999 to foster knowledge exchange and innovation among the USA, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement led to the creation of this consortium.

The scientists at AilseVax are experts in functional genomics, data science, cancer biology, drug delivery, immunology, and vaccines, and are widely recognized on a global scale.

AilseVax's research team comprises cancer specialists from Queen's University and Trinity College Dublin, including Professor Ed Lavelle, Professor Dan Longley, Professor Chris Scott, Dr. Mehdi Jafarnejad, Dr. Simon McDade, and Dr. Sarah Maguire.

The Lavelle group's research at Trinity College Dublin focuses on therapeutic vaccination against cancer using innovative adjuvants to stimulate cell-mediated immune responses.

According to Ed Lavelle, "the development of enhanced cancer vaccines relies on advancements in adjuvant discovery, and our novel technologies have tremendous potential to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy."

Professor Dan Longley, the Director of Research at the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research (PGJCCR) at Queen’s University and founder of AilseVax, expressed his excitement about being a part of the company, stating that "the research we are conducting at Queen's and Trinity is at the forefront of cancer vaccine research. The techniques we are developing have the potential to greatly enhance outcomes for individuals with cancer worldwide."