Cambridge AI vaccine fully protected animals from bird flu — News-Medical

A team at the University of Cambridge has developed, using artificial intelligence, a broad-spectrum vaccine against bird flu. In experiments on mice and ferrets, it provided complete protection against several genetically distinct variants of the influenza A/H5Nx virus that had caused human infections.

This was reported by News-Medical , citing a study in the journal Cell Reports Medicine. Comparison with an existing vaccine The vaccine was developed by the University of Cambridge and DIOSynVax Ltd, a company spun out of the university. According to the study, the developed product fully protected animals against the tested virus variants.

By comparison, a bird flu vaccine created under the WHO pandemic preparedness programme and stockpiled by governments protected about half of the animals infected with the same viruses. As the authors note, such vaccines are designed to protect against a specific strain and may be less effective against other circulating variants.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram . How artificial intelligence was used To develop the product, the team collected genetic sequences of bird flu viruses recorded by surveillance programmes among wild animals, livestock and humans. An AI-based tool analysed these data and helped create several antigen variants with properties shared by a large group of viruses.

After selection in cell tests, the best candidate was tested in animals. The study leader, Professor Jonathan Heeney, said that the approach aims to anticipate the virus’s evolution rather than respond only to variants that have already spread. According to the source, the next stage is expected to be clinical trials of the vaccine involving humans.