The International Centre for Cancer Vaccine Science (ICCVS) has been established in 2017 as a joint unit of the University of Gdańsk (UG) and the University of Edinburgh (UoE) within a project carried out within the International Research Agendas Programme of the Foundation for Polish Science and the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The project “International Centre for Cancer Vaccine Science” has been supported with 42 122 280 PLN from ERDF for 2017-2023. The aim of the project has been comprehensive research into immunotherapies that could lead to the creation of personalized therapeutic cancer vaccines, followed by their commercialization and implementation into clinical practice.

Since 2021 ICCVS is led by prof. Natalia Marek- Trzonkowska, leader of the ICCVS Cancer Immunology group and co-author of the first in man therapy of type 1 diabetes with regulatory T cells (Tregs). ICCVS gathers scientists with various expertise and from different countries align with the idea that multidisciplinary and multicultural environment is the foundation of the innovative thinking and unexpected discoveries.

ICCVS leads and participates in several international projects including CANVAS (Twinning, Horizon Europe), KATY (Horizon 2020), IMMUNE-GENEMEMO (MSCA-IF Horizon 2020) or editRNA (NCN Weave-UNISONO).

The focus of the ICCVS is the development of personalized vaccine against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The approach is based on use of cancer specific T cells that are selected by the special algorithm elaborated at ICCVS. The first in vitro and in vivo studies are very encouraging, and the team plans to start clinical trials in a few years perspective.