Scientists have developed a new vaccine technology, aided by artificial intelligence, that could provide immunity against whole families of viruses and protect against future mutations in a single jab. The method, described as a 'big paradigm change', aims to prevent pandemics before they begin, potentially saving millions of lives and avoiding lockdowns.
The 'super-antigen' vaccine uses machine learning to analyse past and current outbreaks, identifying what is essential for viruses to survive. A world-first human trial of a coronavirus vaccine made with this technology has shown it is safe, with over 200 people set to be recruited for a phase II study.
Current vaccines target specific strains of virus already detected in humans. In contrast, the universal Sarbeco coronavirus vaccine, developed by the University of Cambridge and DIOSynVax, combines features common across the entire virus family. Researchers took all available genetic sequence data on coronaviruses to create the super-antigen.
Professor Jonathan Heeney from the University of Cambridge said: 'We take all these different sequences and think, what is consistent amongst them, what is not changing, what is essential for their life, and that’s what we target.' The phase I trial, published in the Journal of Infection, involved 49 healthy volunteers and found the jab triggered an immune response not only to SARS-CoV-2 and SARS but also to related bat viruses.
A phase II trial is expected to include 200 or more people. Professor Heeney hopes the technology will be a 'game changer', providing broad protection against thousands of virus variants, including Ebola. He noted that current approaches are reactive, whereas this new method could protect against viruses that have not yet emerged.
