£750k UK–Canada collaboration launches first project in Liverpool robotic infection lab

A £750,000 international collaboration has been launched to advance next-generation vaccine development, marking the first commercial project to be confirmed for the Liverpool Robotic Infection Research Laboratory - the UK’s first Category Three Level robotic facility.

The partnership brings together iiDiagnostics (iiDX), formed by the Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON), and Canadian biotech Eyam Health. It will combine Eyam’s AI-driven vaccine design platforms with automated human organoid models developed through iiCON’s lead partner, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).

The project will be the first to operate within the £20 million Liverpool Robotic Infection Research Laboratory, currently under construction, which is designed to support high-containment infectious disease research using advanced robotics and automated systems.

At the centre of the collaboration is the development of a fully automated, human-relevant tonsillar organoid model to enable rapid testing of vaccine candidates. The initial programme will assess Eyam’s universal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate, with a second stream exploring multi-antigen vaccine delivery from a single dose.

Funding includes support from Canada’s National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program, alongside backing from Innovate UK (part of UKRI) and iiDiagnostics.

The collaboration also aims to establish new industry access models for the Liverpool facility, supporting future vaccine development and strengthening UK–Canada capabilities in infectious disease research and pandemic preparedness.

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