Artificial intelligence has been used to develop a \u00ab\u00a0fundamentally new\u00a0\u00bb type of vaccine that could protect against large swathes of viruses and prevent pandemics, say researchers.<\/p>\n
The team at the University of Cambridge say it is the first time a vaccine’s key component has been designed entirely by AI and then trialled in people.<\/p>\n
The vaccine was engineered to work on all coronaviruses which would include all Covid variants and viruses that infect animals, but could start the next pandemic.<\/p>\n
The work is still in the early stages, but the team is already developing separate vaccines that could tackle flu and Ebola.<\/p>\n
Vaccines teach our bodies how to spot an infection to increase our chances of fighting it off.<\/p>\n
But some viruses are adept at changing their appearance \u2013 or mutating \u2013 so vaccines can quickly go out of date. It’s why Covid and winter flu vaccines need to be regularly updated.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We’re always behind,\u00a0\u00bb said Prof Jonathan Heeney, from the University of Cambridge, adding \u00ab\u00a0what we’re trying to do is get ahead of the curve\u00a0\u00bb and so far ahead they could protect against new outbreaks or pandemics.<\/p>\n
Normally vaccines are designed using a current strain of a virus.<\/p>\n
The Cambridge researchers took known genetic codes \u2013 the instruction manuals of life \u2013 from a range of coronaviruses that had been recorded by surveillance programmes hunting for potential viral threats.<\/p>\n
These genetic codes were analysed by an artificial intelligence. It then designed a \u00ab\u00a0super-antigen\u00a0\u00bb that could train the immune system in such a way it gave protection against the whole family of viruses \u2013 even if they mutated or a new infection jumped from animals to people.<\/p>\n
Antigens are the critical components of vaccines as this is what the immune system learns to attack.<\/p>\n
Heeney said this was the first time an antigen designed by AI had been trialled in people. He said the technology was \u00ab\u00a0surprising all of us\u00a0\u00bb and it was \u00ab\u00a0amazing what we can do with it for the good of humanity\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Heeney told BBC News: \u00ab\u00a0This is about making vaccines that protect us, not just from today’s viruses, but protect us from what can cause the next outbreak or disease.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0This is a fundamental shift in how we prepare for pandemics.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The trials, in 39 people, were designed to assess if such vaccines were safe. A second study \u2013 involving around 200 people \u2013 will give a greater understanding of how well it is training the immune system.<\/p>\n
The findings detailed in the Journal of Infection said the impact on the immune system was \u00ab\u00a0modest\u00a0\u00bb, but they are still generating excitement.<\/p>\n
Prof Saul Faust, who performed some of the trials at the University of Southampton, said the AI design \u00ab\u00a0definitely has potential\u00a0\u00bb and was \u00ab\u00a0really exciting\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
He told the BBC: \u00ab\u00a0What’s really interesting is the technology is an awful lot better at designing vaccines for potential pandemics when viruses are changing.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The Cambridge team are already performing animal research on universal seasonal flu vaccines that would not need to be adapted every year and an H5N1-bird flu vaccine, in case the virus that is currently devastating bird populations became a human pandemic.<\/p>\n
They are also looking at a vaccine for viral haemorrhagic fevers, which would include Ebola species. The current outbreak in the Democratic Republic Congo is being caused by a species that does not have a vaccine developed for it yet.<\/p>\n
Prof Andy Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, was not involved in the study, but said this approach was generating compelling evidence in animal research.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s fascinating data and people wouldn’t have predicted they’d be able to generate these immune responses,\u00a0\u00bb he told BBC News.<\/p>\n
The real test, he says, is what happens in the human trials as our immune systems are different to laboratory mice as ours have been shaped by years of infections.<\/p>\n
More broadly he said artificial intelligence was going to be a \u00ab\u00a0game changer\u00a0\u00bb for vaccine research and that AI tools had the potential to predict how the immune system respond would respond to a vaccine making development much faster and would \u00ab\u00a0save lives\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Prof Marian Knight, scientific director for National Institute for Health and Care Research, said: \u00ab\u00a0The remarkable success of this AI-designed ‘super-antigen’ trial marks a pivotal leap forward in our ability to deliver broad, lasting viral protection.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Artificial intelligence has been used to develop a \u00ab\u00a0fundamentally new\u00a0\u00bb type of vaccine that could protect against large swathes of viruses and prevent pandemics, say researchers. The team at the University of Cambridge say it is the first time a vaccine’s key component has been designed entirely by AI and then trialled in people. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}