The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) has awarded funding to Johns Hopkins University to assess the capabilities of long-read next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods for characterizing and controlling the quality of adeno-associated viral vectors (AAV vectors). The award stems from NIIMBL’s Viral Vector Program’s March 2025 Request for Applications.
The 9-month project is expected to begin in September.
With the emergence of gene therapies, the biopharmaceutical industry needs innovative analytical technologies to assess the quality of AAV vectors, which are the delivery vehicles used in gene therapy to carry healthy genes into cells. This project explores the application of long-read next-generation sequencing as an innovative solution for high-resolution characterization of AAV vectors. Long-read next-generation sequencing is a method that reads entire strands of DNA to detect errors more accurately. By enabling precise detection of mutations and residual DNA, this approach has the potential to overcome key limitations of current assays and set a new standard for quality control in advanced biomanufacturing.