MIT develops machine learning model to quicken release of COVID-19 vaccine

Researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a new combinatorial machine learning system that could both decrease research time needed for a COVID-19 vaccine and make it more effective, researchers said. The platform, called OptiVax, focuses on developing peptide vaccines, which are a different approach from common whole virus, DNA, and RNA vaccines currently among the more than 100 vaccines in development. Peptide vaccines are a relatively recent development in the vaccination game that are designed around one specific short amino acid string, called a peptide, that can be found in the target disease. Peptide vaccines use a synthetic version of the peptide that is created in a laboratory and not harvested from the disease itself. Traditional vaccines have a larger amount of genetic information in them that isn't useful in developing resistance and can lead to unwanted immune responses and dangerous reactions--it's these genetic elements that peptide vaccines are designed to eliminate, MIT said.