World's First Vaccine Designed by Artificial Intelligence
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Whilst AI tends to get a fair amount of bad press, its use in medicine is demonstrating some remarkably positive potential - including this new vaccine.
Vaccines teach our bodies how to identify an infection in order to increase our ability to fight it off but, frustratingly, some viruses are remarkably adept at mutating. This means that, historically, vaccines can quickly go out of date. It's why Covid and winter flu vaccines need to be regularly updated. "We're always behind," said Prof Jonathan Heeney, from the University of Cambridge, adding "what we're trying to do is get ahead of the curve" and so far ahead they could protect against new outbreaks or pandemics.
So, Heeney and his team in Cambridge have been working with AI to develop a "fundamentally new" type of vaccine that could protect against large swathes of viruses and prevent pandemics. The scientists say it is the first time a vaccine's key component has been designed entirely by AI and then trialled in people.
The vaccine was engineered to work on all coronaviruses which would include all Covid variants. It's clever stuff. The Cambridge researchers took known genetic codes - the instruction manuals of life - from a range of coronaviruses that had been recorded by surveillance programmes hunting for potential viral threats. These genetic codes were analysed by an artificial intelligence. It then designed a 'super-antigen' that could train the immune system in such a way it gave protection against the whole family of viruses - even if they mutated or a new infection jumped from animals to people.
Prof Marian Knight, scientific director for the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Research, said: "The remarkable success of this AI-designed 'super-antigen' trial marks a pivotal leap forward in our ability to deliver broad, lasting viral protection."
Whilst the research and testing is still in the early stages, the team is already developing separate vaccines that could tackle flu and Ebola.
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