Cancer vaccines using AI gets research funding
Getty ImagesA university team has received support in building the "new generation of personalised cancer vaccines" using artificial intelligence (AI).
The University of Oxford researchers were granted access to one of the UK's most powerful AI supercomputers, know as Dawn, in August and the next phase of their work will be funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC).
The UK Cancer Vaccine AI & Supercomputing Project brings together doctors, cancer scientists, AI experts, robotics engineers and manufacturing specialists.
Dr Lennard Lee, consultant medical oncologist and project lead, said it was now possible to move "much faster" towards personalised drug development.
The programme has grown into a consortium of more than 2,500 scientists, clinicians, technologists, patients and partners.
At its centre is CIARA, an AI scientist platform designed to analyse tumour biology, coordinate laboratory experiments, and help researchers develop personalised cancer vaccines.
The team has been developing biological AI models using the United Kingdom's sovereign AI systems, including the DAWN and ISAMBARD-AI supercomputers.
The university said they allowed researchers to analyse "vast amounts of cancer and immune data at a scale previously impossible within conventional university computing environments".
The MRC funding will help with the next steps, including equipment needed to manufacture experimental mRNA cancer vaccines and test whether the AI's predictions work in patient samples.
The aim is to determine whether vaccine targets selected by AI can generate strong anti-cancer immune responses.
Lee said that patients often ask whether AI would "genuinely make a difference for people with cancer".
"What this programme has demonstrated in a remarkably short period of time is that the United Kingdom possesses world-class sovereign AI systems.
"It is now possible to move much faster from AI prediction towards real-world personalised drug development."
The project is also supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Cancer Research UK.
