Current Affairs

Issue

A novel computer algorithm has shown its ability to produce influenza vaccine for swine flu and also offers a path toward a pan-coronavirus vaccine as well.

Background

The algorithm is known as Epigraph and has already been used to predict therapeutic HIV vaccine candidates.

Details

• Vaccination with the Epigraph-designed product led to the development of a strong cross-reactive antibody response in mice.

• The Epigraph strategy can be applied to many diverse pathogens. The tool creates a cocktail of vaccine antigens designed to maximize efficacy across a highly diverse population.

• The tool creates a cocktail of vaccine antigens designed to maximize efficacy across a highly diverse population.

• The same basic principles may be applicable to developing a pan-coronavirus vaccine to enable a rapid vaccine response to future coronavirus cross-species jumps.

Algorithm

• An algorithm is a finite sequence of well-defined, computer-implementable instructions, typically to solve a class of problems or to perform a computation.

• It can be expressed within a finite amount of space and time, and in a well-defined formal language for calculating a function.