These Researchers Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Make a Better Flu Vaccine

The influenza virus is a particularly nasty bug, thanks in no small part to how rapidly it mutates. Every time the flu virus changes, it becomes harder for humans to develop an immunity. Even our best external defense against influenza, the flu shot, is based on experts’ best guess as to which flu strain or strains are most likely to be prevalent during a given flu season. Sometimes they’re right — this season’s vaccine has turned out to be a relatively good match for the strains currently in circulation. But sometimes they get it wrong, potentially leading to a more severe flu season. And influenza can extract a enormous toll, killing tens of thousands of people every year in the U.S. alone and resulting in billions of dollars in hospitalization costs, not to mention lost productivity. Is there a more precise way to fight the flu? The team at Berg, a Boston-based pharmaceutical startup, thinks so. Working alongside French pharma giant Sanofi, Berg is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to better understand the flu and, hopefully, find new ways to stop it. Berg’s researchers have been taking data (like mRNA variations and concentrations of metabolites and proteins) from hundreds of patient samples exposed to the flu vaccine, then running that information through a sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithm. In so doing, Berg’s team hopes to better understand the biological processes that trigger an effective immune resp...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Life Reinvented medicine onetime Source Type: news