A vaccine designed with the help of artificial intelligence has been tested in people for the first time, marking an early step toward vaccines that could protect against several related coronaviruses rather than just one strain. The research, led by scientists at the University of Cambridge and published in the Journal of Infection, used AI to design a DNA vaccine capable of triggering immune responses against multiple sarbecoviruses.
The early trial found the vaccine was safe and well tolerated, producing antibodies that recognized several related coronaviruses. While the immune responses were modest, the study proves that AI-assisted vaccine design can work in humans. This approach could fundamentally change pandemic preparedness, moving from chasing individual variants toward designing vaccines that anticipate viral evolution.
