- Researchers analyzed antigens from a family of viruses to create a ‘superantigen’
- New development method could help quickly create new safe vaccines for pandemics
- AI Vaccines Could Be Developed to Fight Ebola, Seasonal Flu Viruses and Bird Flu
For the first time in the world, researchers at the University of Cambridge have used artificial intelligence to develop a new vaccine.
Using genetic code collected from global virus surveillance programs, researchers have created a “superantigen” using AI, capable of defending the human body from an entire family of pathogens, even if they mutate.
The vaccine has already undergone a human trial targeting coronaviruses, and the findings show that while the effects on the immune system were “modest,” the science shows great promise as a way to rapidly develop vaccines for viruses capable of causing pandemic-level infection.
The early stages of vaccines developed by AI
The research team at the University of Cambridge used an AI model to analyze the antigens present in a family of viruses. Like the DNA in our cells, antigens are parts of viruses that the immune system recognizes to trigger an immune response.
If the immune system does not recognize an antigen as hostile, then the virus can replicate rapidly and cause an infection. The same can happen if a virus evolves or mutates, since the immune system will not immediately recognize the new antigen.
“We are always behind,” said Professor Jonathan Heeney of the University of Cambridge. bbc news. “What we are trying to do is get ahead of the curve. This is about making vaccines that protect us, not only from the current viruses, but also from what may cause the next outbreak or disease. This is a fundamental change in the way we prepare for pandemics.”
The vaccine will undergo a second trial involving 200 people to better understand its effects on the human body and its effectiveness in fighting viral infections.
Professor Saul Faust, who carried out some of the trials at the University of Southampton, said: “What’s really interesting is that the technology is much better at designing vaccines for potential pandemics when the viruses are changing.”
While the typical development of a vaccine for a new virus can take more than a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars, there is hope that AI can help rapidly develop vaccines that are safe and widely effective, reducing the need to develop highly specialized vaccines to target specific viruses and instead develop a single vaccine for an entire viral family.
The technology also shows promise in the treatment of viral hemorrhagic fevers, such as the Ebola virus, as well as in vaccines against seasonal flu and the H5N1 bird flu virus, which has the potential to evolve to infect humans, which experts predict could cause a global pandemic.
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