Artificial intelligence has now been used to create a “fundamental new vaccine technology” that could protect against large swathes of viruses and prevent pandemics, according to researchers.
A team at the University of Cambridge says this is the first time that a vaccine whose active component was “designed entirely by computer simulations has been tested in humans.”
The vaccine was designed to “provide protection against multiple Sarbeco coronaviruses – the large group of viruses that occur in nature including SARS-CoV-2, which caused the COVID pandemic,” according to a University of Cambridge press release.
Results from the trials published in the Journal of Infection state that the research, conducted between December 2021 and September 2023, involved 39 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 50.
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The vaccine “triggered immune responses in the volunteers not only to SARS-CoV-2 and SARS, but to related bat viruses that could potentially jump from animals to humans and cause future pandemics. ”
“The super antigen is compatible with most vaccine delivery systems,” the press release reads.
“In this trial it was administered as DNA vaccine through a micro fluid jet. This needle-free delivery method offers an alternative to those with a fear of needle-based injections. This could make vaccination faster and easier to carry out in large numbers of people, especially in settings where conventional injections are more challenging to deliver.”
Professor Saul Faust from the University of Southampton, the trial’s chief investigator, said in the press release that “Viruses like Influenza, Coronaviruses and the Ebola group are evolving continuously and by the time vaccines are rolled out, they may be poorly matched – the current ‘reactive’ vaccine system struggles to keep pace.”
“This new class of universal vaccines are future-proofed. They not only protect against many variants simultaneously, but potentially against related viruses that haven’t yet emerged and spilt over to humans,” Faust said.
The press release also states that “a larger Phase two trial will next assess the vaccine’s ability to induce immune responses in a wider and more diverse population, and confirm that it generates strong, broadly protective immune responses.”
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