Founded by an assembled team of innovative scientists with decades of practical experience in vaccines, SunFire Biotechnologies is a contract research organization developing and performing functional immunological assays for other companies that are developing vaccines. The firm is primarily now organzied around technologies developed by one of their founder during his 20+ years as a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During his academic career, Dr. Nahm directed a WHO reference laboratory for pneumococcal serology and developed various technologies useful for pneumococcal vaccine studies - the most notable being the invention of MOPA (multiplexed opsonophagocytosis assay). The MOPA is used to measure protective capacity of antibodies and is often used to evaluate pneumococcal vaccines, especially in the elderly. SunFire was formed to satisfy demand from pneumococcal vaccine companies. Pneumococcal vaccines are strongly recommended for all children and older adults since pneumococcal infections are common in those populations. New and improved pneumococcal vaccines are being developed by several companies in multiple countries. With increasing valency of the next generation vaccines, the MOPA is ideal to meet these demands. In addition to inventing the MOPA, Dr. Nahm and Mr. Burton have more than 30 years of combined practical experience with the assay, including performance of the MOPA in a regulatory-compliant environment. Also, several members of the SunFire team have previous experience with the MOPA. In addition to our considerable experience with the MOPA, SunFire personnel also have significant experience with other analytical assays for pneumococci, as well as other pathogens.
