Proceeding artificial intelligence technology towards vaccine designs

Although vaccines have been designed to be safe and effective, it still takes years to move vaccine development from benchside to bedside. Novel strategies are needed to accelerate the vaccine design process. Artificial intelligence (AI) has started to play an important role in the life science industry. In this review, we summarized progress of AI-assisted vaccine designs in three areas, including de novo protein subunit design that focuses more on the immunogenic part of the antigen, viral vectored-based vaccine innovation that combats pre-existing immunity, and mRNA vaccine platform optimization that improves stability and translational efficiency. Additionally, we also address the multifaceted challenges associated with integrating AI into vaccine development, encompassing technical, ethical, and regulatory considerations, and offer strategic recommendations to navigate these complexities. AI-driven methodologies hold the promise of revolutionizing next-generation vaccine design by improving safety profiles, stability, immunogenicity, and overall efficacy, thereby strengthening global preparedness against emerging infectious threats.