Artificial Intelligence Creates Vaccine Aimed At Preventing Future Pandemics

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Artificial intelligence is helping scientists develop a new generation of vaccines that could offer protection against a wide range of viruses and potentially help prevent future pandemics. Researchers say the technology has already been used to create and test a vaccine designed to protect against multiple coronaviruses, reported BBC.

A team at the University of Cambridge has developed what it describes as a fundamentally new type of vaccine. According to the researchers, this is the first time that a vaccine’s key component, known as an antigen, has been designed entirely by artificial intelligence and then tested in human volunteers.

The vaccine has been engineered to work against all coronaviruses, including different Covid variants as well as coronaviruses that currently infect animals but could potentially spread to humans in the future. While the research is still in its early stages, the team is already working on similar vaccines for influenza and Ebola.

Vaccines train the immune system to recognise and fight infections. However, some viruses mutate frequently, changing their appearance and making existing vaccines less effective over time. This is one reason why Covid-19 and seasonal flu vaccines need regular updates.

Professor Jonathan Heeney of the University of Cambridge said scientists are often trying to catch up with viruses after they have already changed. He said the aim of the new approach is to get ahead of the curve and create protection against future outbreaks before they occur.

Instead of designing a vaccine based on a currently circulating virus, the Cambridge researchers used genetic codes collected from a variety of coronaviruses identified through surveillance programmes that monitor potential viral threats.

These genetic codes were analysed using artificial intelligence. The AI system then created a “super-antigen”…

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