Computer-designed vaccines confront new flu strains

The researchers − including University of Miami computer scientist Dimitris Papamichail and a team from Stony Brook University, New York − hope to develop the technology and provide an efficient method to confront seasonal epidemics.

The novel approach uses computer algorithms created by Papamichail and Stony Brook scientists to design viruses that serve as live vaccines, which are then synthesised to specification.

Their method is called Synthetic Attenuated Virus Engineering (SAVE).

‘We have been able to produce an entirely novel method to systematically design vaccines using computer algorithms,’ said Papamichail. ‘Our approach is not only useful for influenza; it is also applicable to a wide range of viruses.’

One way to make an anti-viral vaccine is to weaken a virus to the point where it cannot cause sickness and then use it as a live vaccine. Although weakened viruses can make effective vaccines, they suffer from the possibility that the virus can sometimes mutate to regain virulence.