Revolutionary AI research on virus proteins opens door to vaccine innovations

Infectious diseases, caused by bacteria or viruses, continue to be a world-leading cause of premature death and ill health. Tuberculosis, HIV, malaria and hepatitis are among the most serious infectious diseases across the globe, impacting individuals, families and entire communities.

Viruses that pass infections from one cell to another are essentially microscopic machines, that use ‘entry proteins’ to break into cells. Dr Joe Grove, Senior Lecturer at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR), has been investigating entry proteins for several years. Last year, Dr Grove was one of our Emerging Leaders Prize winners, highlighting his significant contributions to his field.

In a recent paper, published in Nature and part-funded by the Foundation, Dr Grove’s team has applied state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) to study the entry proteins of hundreds of viruses. This study marks the first time that AI tools are being used at scale to examine viruses.

AI to investigate viral proteins

Dr Grove’s team at the CVR has specifically been studying the Flaviviridae family of viruses, among which are several viruses that cause serious diseases affecting human health, such as Dengue, Zika and Hepatitis C.

Previous efforts to explore the evolutionary history of these viruses have only been based on the analysis of a single protein, meaning that there are still gaps in knowledge of genome-wide relationships and therefore the true origin and evolution of this viral species.

In this study, researchers used machine-learning AI software to super-charge investigations into the function of viral proteins. They have been able to gain ground-breaking new insights into how viral proteins evolve, how they are structured, and most importantly, the entry mechanisms that allow viruses to break into and replicate in cells.

Findings from this work will form the foundations of an extensive resource, benefiting other virology researchers, and supporting the development of new and innovative vaccines for many diseases.

Working towards new vaccines

Dr Grove is paving the way for a new era of structure-informed studies into viral evolution. He comments, “Our results have huge implications for understanding how viruses get into our bodies and replicate, something which is critically important for future vaccine development and pandemic preparedness.”

While scientists have been able to develop vaccines against COVID-19, using existing knowledge of the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the mechanisms of the entry proteins for several other viruses remain unknown. This includes hepatitis C (HCV), a virus responsible for infecting 1.5 million individuals globally each year.

In this study, Dr Grove has notably demonstrated that HCV has a completely unique entry mechanism, unlike any other virus.

He explains, “By discovering more about the entry proteins on the outside of viruses, as we’ve done, we can better understand the fundamentals of viral biology, which can, in turn, guide the development of drugs or vaccines.

“We are particularly excited about the discoveries around HCV entry proteins. There is currently no vaccine for hepatitis C, so we are hopeful that these fundamental insights will lead to the development of a new vaccine.”

Now, using funding from our 2023 Emerging Leaders Prize, Dr Grove plans to use similar AI methods to scale up this research to thousands of viruses. This will create a broader foundation of knowledge to help inform future responses to disease outbreaks.

Click here to read the full paper >>