Scientists of the English University of Cambridge have begun to develop for the first time a vaccine designed to protect against a variety of viruses and prevent future pandemics with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).
The vaccine is designed to be effective against all coronaviruses, including different variants of COVID-19, as well as viruses that currently infect animals but have the potential to trigger new pandemics.
The Cambridge team says it is the first time that a key component of a vaccine has been designed entirely using AI and subsequently tested in humans.
Although work is in its early stages, experts consider that a coronavirus vaccine made with AI technology is safe.
According to scientists, some viruses have the ability to mutate, so vaccines – which are designed using a current strain of a virus – can quickly become obsolete.
That’s why COVID-19 and seasonal flu vaccines are regularly updated.
“We are always behind schedule. What we try to do is get ahead of the curve” and get so far ahead that they could protect the population from new outbreaks or pandemics, Jonathan Heeney, from the University of Cambridge, told British media.
To develop this immunity-building preparation, Cambridge researchers took known genetic codes from various coronaviruses recorded in surveillance programs that look for possible viral threats.
These genetic codes were analyzed by AI, which then designed a “superantigen” capable of training the immune system to provide protection against the entire family of viruses, even if they mutated or if a new infection was transmitted from animals to humans.
Antigens are essential components of vaccines, since they are what the immune system learns to attack.
The phase I trials included 49 healthy volunteers between 18 and 50 years old who received the Cambridge vaccine, as published in the magazine. Journal of Infectionbut in phase II scientists hope to recruit 200 people, which will allow us to know the extent of the vaccine’s effectiveness.