UniFluVec™
The Core Vector Platform Behind GeminiVax Vaccines
The core vector technology used by GeminiVax originates from our Consortium Technology Hub, Capricorn Technologies GmbH, based in Tulln, Austria. It is built on decades of research led by Prof. Alexander Egorov, co-founder of Capricorn Technologies.
As early as 1996, Prof. Egorov introduced the concept of vaccination using attenuated influenza viruses [1,2], initially for influenza and later for other respiratory [3] and non-respiratory diseases [4]. This long scientific and technological development pathway resulted in UniFluVec™ — a unique, double-attenuated influenza vector with strong intrinsic adjuvanting properties [5] and demonstrated safety in humans [6]. Further details are available on the Capricorn Technologies website.
A critical advantage of UniFluVec™ as a vaccine vector is its capacity to accommodate and express selected fragments of proteins from a target pathogen. These inserts can be placed either within the viral hemagglutinin protein or into the NS1–NS2 gene region, the latter being particularly useful for inducing cytotoxic T-cell responses.
For highly variable swine pathogens, classical vaccine approaches may be challenged by strain drift and regional diversity. A vector-based strategy allows GeminiVax to focus immune responses on selected conserved targets rather than relying only on whole-pathogen antigenic composition.
GeminiVax applies the UniFluVec platform to develop swine vaccine candidates targeting diseases where broader immune coverage, CTL induction and flexible antigen-cassette design may provide important advantages.
The scheme illustrates the key insertion sites used in the main types of UniFluVec™-based vaccine candidates.
[1] Egorov, A. et al. Transfectant Influenza A Viruses with Long Deletions in the NS1 Protein Grow Efficiently in Vero Cells. J Virol 72, 6437–6441 (1998).
[2] García-Sastre, A. et al. Influenza A Virus Lacking the NS1 Gene Replicates in Interferon-Deficient Systems. Virology 252, 324–330 (1998).
[3] Shurygina, A.-P. et al. Preclinical Evaluation of TB/FLU-04L—An Intranasal Influenza Vector-Based Boost Vaccine against Tuberculosis. IJMS 24, 7439 (2023).
[4] Tabynov, K. et al. Influenza viral vectors expressing the Brucella OMP16 or L7/L12 proteins as vaccines against B. abortus infection. Virol J 11, 69 (2014).
[5] Romanova, J. et al. Protective efficacy of the UniFluVec influenza vaccine vector against the highly pathogenic influenza A/Indonesia/5/2005 (H5N1) strain in ferrets. Vaccine 65, 127795 (2025).
[7] Stukova, M. et al. Phase 1 evaluation of UniFluVec: safety and reactogenicity of an intranasal universal influenza vector vaccine at two dose levels. Microbiology Independent Research Journal (MIR Journal) 12, 68–79 (2025).