PREParedness using Artificial Intelligence for Rapid VACcine design

Zoonotic diseases are the cause of >70% of emerging infectious diseases. In PREPAIR-VAC, we use Influenza, specifically H1N1 as a model disease. Vaccination is considered the most effective public health measure to prevent the impact of any viral threats, including Influenza. Current vaccine design approaches are reactive by nature and will require to know the circulating strain before designing the vaccine. As a result, viruses can spread widely before the vaccine is made available, making vaccine design and production major bottlenecks in rapid outbreak response. The main objective of the project is to establish and validate a rapid, scalable, and modular AI-driven pipeline for vaccine development that addresses every critical component of the pipeline: prediction of the evolution of pathogens, antigen selection and vaccine design and manufacturability. To achieve this ambitious goal, we have designed a comprehensive methodology that couples the development and validation of AI toolkits with efficient technologies for vaccine manufacturing and formulation with potential for rapid upscale and efficient roll out. Furthermore, we will also address the ethical, legal and social dimensions of potential AI-driven vaccines through stakeholder engagement activities to evaluate barriers to their acceptance and deployment. Addressing societal concerns is essential to ensure the development of trustworthy, ethical and unbiased AI-driven solutions and the successful uptake of novel vaccine technologies.

AI-driven solutions can become the key to shortening the path from an outbreak to available vaccine doses - strengthening Europe’s capacity to react to pandemics by increasing resilience, autonomy, and preparedness. PREPAIR-VAC represents a decisive step forward in this direction by offering a scalable AI-driven pipeline for vaccine development, readily adaptable to respond to other infectious diseases.