With AI, these possibilities are closer than we think. In just 60 years, the United Nations expects the world’s population to peak at approximately 10.3 billion, roughly 2.1 billion more than the current count. With a rapidly growing population, disease modeling is more crucial than ever. Infectious disease experts race to leverage artificial intelligence to predict the next disease outbreak before it reaches pandemic-level potential.  

In the last year, waves of illnesses such as Marburg virus, Mpox and avian influenza (H5N1) have underscored the need for enhanced preparedness to prevent future outbreaks. While the world continues to grapple with the long-term effects of COVID-19, scientists are working to harness the full potential of artificial intelligence in global health security through AI-driven modeling and predictive analytics — hoping to foresee potential outbreaks, assess risk factors and create early warning systems that can save lives.   

Researchers at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, for example, published an algorithm capable of predicting which COVID-19 variant in circulation today is most likely to become dominant in the next three months. This algorithm was used to spot new variants of concern, and it correctly identified 11 out of 11 variants a full 10 weeks before they were officially labeled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The group created a molecular “decoy” that blocks two proteins coronaviruses use to evade a normal immune system response. Blocking these proteins prevents the virus from taking hold within human cells, the researchers found. During early tests, short chains of amino acids, known as peptides, inhibited the replication and release of two coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2. The findings were published recently in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. 

The UF team’s compounds don’t attack coronaviruses directly, said Alfred S. Lewin, Ph.D., a professor of molecular genetics and microbiology in the UF College of Medicine. “These peptides have the potential to allow our immune system to fight off the virus more effectively,” Lewin said. 

“We’re proud to have our innovative intranasal vaccine candidate studies published in a reputable, peer-reviewed scientific journal, and believe this heightened recognition underscores the need for vaccines that address the limitations of currently available options. These published data, and our on-going GLP toxicology study will be part of our preclinical data package seeking permission to enter our first-in human clinical trials,” said Frederick W. Telling, Ph.D., Executive Chairman of Oragenics.

The publication, [https://rdcu.be/cPyZF] titled “Intranasal Immunization with a Proteosome-Adjuvanted SARS-CoV2 Spike Protein-Based Vaccine is Immunogenic and Efficacious in Mice & Hamsters,” concluded that Oragenics’ intranasal vaccine candidate, NT-CoV2-1, warrants further development as a novel SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

Announcing its $577 million effort to stock the nation’s medicine chest with new treatments for dangerous viral diseases, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease announced last week that it is establishing nine multi-institution centers focused on developing new medications to address the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, and to treat other viruses with pandemic potential.

Seven UF Scripps scientists plus an engineer will contribute to three of those centers. The federal agency calls the groups “Antiviral Drug Discovery Centers for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern,” or AViDD. The AViDD grant awards to UF Scripps-directed projects and scientific core services could total more than $15 million over the next three to five years.

The UF team previously reported that patients who recovered from severe COVID-19 have more than twice the mortality risk within the year following their illness than people who have not contracted the virus. The new findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, are the first to use biomarkers to help explain the increased risk.

“This study helps to clarify why people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 end up being at high risk for death after they recover. The findings also take us to a new level of understanding of not just the mechanism for illness, but also a potential treatment that may prevent deaths among these patients,” said Arch G. Mainous III, Ph.D., the study’s lead investigator and a professor in the department of health services research, management and policy at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, part of UF Health, the university’s academic health center.

The NT-CoV2-1 intranasal vaccine program approach is focused on patient-friendly administration, reducing transmission through a mucosal immune response, and to provide long-lasting protection. As a recombinant protein and adjunctive vaccine, NT-CoV2-1 is differentiated compared to live-attenuated intranasal vaccines candidates that may cause greater side effects and harder to produce. Animal models have demonstrated NT-CoV2-1 intranasal formulation induced robust immune responses, lowering the viral load below detection of the assay in the nasal passages and the lungs. Currently, an IND-enabling GLP toxicology study is ongoing. The Company expects to initiate a first-in-human Phase 1 trial in previously vaccinated healthy adults this year.

The Covid Reflections installation is one of seven projects funded by the Arts for UF Vaccine Confidence Program, an initiative sponsored by UF’s College of Arts’ Center for Arts in Medicine. The center has previously partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase COVID-19 vaccine confidence.