PREPAIR-VAC: PREParedness using Artificial Intelligence for Rapid VACcine design
PREPAIR-VAC utvecklar och validerar en snabb, skalbar och modulär AI-driven pipeline för vaccinutveckling – som tar hänsyn till etiken, juridiken och samhället.
Details
- Period: 2026-10-22 – 2030-08-31
- Budget: 72,012,919 SEK
- Funder: EU – Horizon Europe
- Type of funding: Projektbidrag
Viral threats, zoonotics and AI driven vaccine technology
Vaccines are the most efficient public health measure for preventing viral threats, including influenza. Today's vaccine development is reactive. We need knowledge of the viral strain circulating to develop a vaccine against the infection it causes.
Today, a virus can spread both far and wide before a vaccine is available, which makes vaccine design and production bottlenecks when there is an outbreak. PREPAIR-VAC's main objective is developing and validating fast, scalable and modular AI-driven pipeline for vaccine development that encompasses all critical parts of the process: prediction of pathogen evolution, antigen selection, vaccine design and manufacturability.
To reach this ambitious gial, the project has designed a method that combines development and validation of an AI tool with efficient technology for vaccine development and formulation, with potential for quick upscaling and rollout of new vaccines.
The project also explores ethical, legal and social dimensions of AI driven vaccines through activities and dialogue with stakeholders to determine obstacles to acceptance and rollout of new technology. Tackling societal concerns is crucial to ensure that the AI tools developed are safe, ethical and unbiased and successful implementation of new vaccine technology.
AI-driven solutions can shorten the timespan between a viral outbreak and vaccine availability, and strengthen Europe's ability to react to pandemics with increased relisience, autonomy and preparedness. PREPAIR-VAC contributes by offering a sclable AI-driven pipeline for vaccine development that's easily adapted to respond to different viral threats.
Did you know?
70 procent of new viral diseases are zoonotic, which means spread between animals and humans. PREPAIR-VAC uses swine flu, H1N1, as the model disease.
Collaborators
- NEC OncoImmunity AS, Norway
- NEC Bio Therapeutics GmbH, Germany
- Nevezyne, France
- Croda Denmark A/S, Denmark
- Uppsala universitet, Sweden
- Université Jean Monnet, France
- Niedersächsisches Landesgesundheitsamt, Germany
- Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany
- European Vaccine Initiative, Germany
Contacts at the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics
Deborah Mascalzoni
Research about ethics and policy for advanced research approaches in genetics and biomaterials with the integration of participant-centric approaches.
Mirko Ancillotti
Researcher in bioethics and public health, focusing on antimicrobial resistance, One Health, patient preferences, and ethics of AI-supported health & emerging health technologies.
Kajsa Norberg Wieslander
Researcher with a primary focus on research ethics in pediatric oncology and children’s participation in assent.
