Assoc. Prof. Chuenchit Boonchird, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science delivered a public release on the collaboration between Mahidol University and Bionet Asia Co. Ltd. in the development of new bacterial strain that will be used as inoculant to produce new generation pertussis vaccine. Assoc. Prof. Chuenchit Boonchird, Ph.D commented that using genetic engineering technology, the new strain will produce protein antigen without the virulent toxin, and the new vaccine will be natural and effective. Smaller dosage of active ingredient will be required as compared to the previous vaccine types. It is also an alternative for the children who are allergic to the older vaccine that employed bacteria to boost the immune. A GMP standard production factory located in the Hi-Tech Industrial Estate, Ayuthaya Province is under construction, and is almost complete. Research may be moved to the factor around April 2009. The company anticipates to export 95% of the vaccine, while the remaining 5% will be for local use. Three phases of production plan are 1) research and development of new generation pertussis vaccine by Thai researcher, 2) extend production from bench scale to industrial scale with maximum production capacity of 50 million doses per year, and 3) expand the knowledge to research and development of other needed vaccines.