Report: Researchers Working on the World's First AI-Designed Vaccine

SadaNews - A research team at the University of Cambridge in the UK is working on producing the world's first vaccine designed by artificial intelligence, according to the BBC.

The researchers stated that AI has been used to develop a completely new type of vaccine, capable of providing protection against a wide range of viruses and preventing pandemics.

They confirmed that this is the first time the main component of a vaccine has been entirely designed using artificial intelligence, then tested on humans.

The vaccine is designed to be effective against all coronaviruses, including all variants of "Covid-19" and viruses that affect animals, which could cause another pandemic.

Work is still in the early stages, but the team is currently developing separate vaccines to combat influenza and Ebola.

The BBC explained that vaccines teach our bodies how to detect infections to increase our chances of overcoming them, but some viruses are adept at changing their shape – or mutating – which quickly makes vaccines lose their effectiveness. This is why Covid-19 and seasonal flu vaccines must be regularly updated.

Professor Jonathan Heneey from Cambridge said, "We are always behind," adding, "What we are trying to do is to anticipate events" and reach a stage that allows us to protect against new outbreaks or pandemics.

How does it work?

Vaccines are typically designed using a current strain of the virus, and the Cambridge researchers took the known genetic codes – which serve as life’s instruction manual – from a collection of coronaviruses recorded by surveillance programs looking for potential viral threats.

These genetic codes were analyzed by AI, and then a "super antigen" was designed, which is a powerful type of toxin capable of training the immune system in a way that provides protection against the entire family of viruses – even if they mutate or if a new infection crosses from animals to humans.

Antigens are the essential components of vaccines because they are what the immune system learns to attack.

Heneey stated that this is the first time an antigen designed by artificial intelligence has been tested on humans, adding that this technology "surprises us all, and what we can do with it for the benefit of humanity is astounding."

He continued, "This is about developing vaccines that protect us, not only from today’s viruses but also from future epidemic and disease agents, which is a radical shift in how we prepare for pandemics."

The trials, conducted on 39 people, were designed to assess the safety of these vaccines.

A second study will be conducted, involving around 200 people, to understand the effectiveness of the vaccine in training the immune system, and preliminary results indicated that the vaccine’s impact on the immune system is "modest," yet it still generates significant excitement.

Professor Saul Faust, who conducted some trials at the University of Southampton, said that AI design "holds great potential" and is "very exciting."

He added, "What’s really interesting is that this technology has become more efficient in designing vaccines for potential pandemics in the face of changing viruses."

The Cambridge team is currently conducting animal research to develop universal vaccines for seasonal influenza that do not need annual adjustment, and a bird flu vaccine, in anticipation of a virus currently causing severe damage to bird populations turning into a human pandemic. They are also investigating a vaccine for viral hemorrhagic fever, which could include Ebola types.

The current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is attributed to a type of bird for which a vaccine has yet to be developed.