An Automated Strategy to Handle Antigenic Variability in Immunisation Protocols, Part II: In Vitro Transcribed mRNA...

Area of Science:

• Immunology and Virology
• Bioinformatics and Genomics
• Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology

Background:

• Antigenic variability in pathogens like SARS-CoV-2 poses a significant challenge to traditional vaccine development.
• Existing immunisation protocols struggle to adapt quickly to emerging infectious agent variants.
• A need exists for automated, rapid strategies to design vaccines against evolving threats.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a fully automated strategy for addressing antigenic variability in immunisation protocols.
• To introduce a novel method integrating pathogen sequencing with vaccine vector design.
• To lay the groundwork for rapidly adaptable immunotherapy against infectious diseases.

Main Methods:

• Nanopore sequencing of infectious agent variants, with a specific focus on SARS-CoV-2.
• In-vitro transcribed messenger RNA (mRNA) vector design for immunotherapy applications.
• Integration of sequencing data into the design of novel vaccine constructs.

Main Results:

• A described protocol for designing mRNA vaccine vectors.
• Demonstration of an automated workflow for handling pathogen genetic diversity.
• Foundation for rapid vaccine candidate generation against new variants.

Conclusions:

• The presented automated strategy offers a robust approach to combat antigenic drift in pathogens.
• This method facilitates the swift development of targeted immunotherapies.
• The integration of nanopore sequencing and mRNA vector design is crucial for future pandemic preparedness.