Overview
- Researchers in Cambridge used genomic surveillance data and machine learning to design an antigen the team says is the first vaccine component created entirely by artificial intelligence to be given to humans.
- A small phase I trial enrolled 49 healthy volunteers who received the AI-designed antigen, and initial results were published in the Journal of Infection.
- The investigators plan a phase II study of roughly 200 participants to measure whether the antigen produces meaningful protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants and related animal coronaviruses.
- Antigens are the part of a vaccine that the immune system learns to recognise, and the team designed a so-called ‘superantigen’ to prompt broad immune responses across the coronavirus family.
- Scientists stress the work is early and unproven: larger controlled trials and regulatory review are needed to confirm safety and real-world effectiveness, though the approach could speed future vaccine design if validated.