Scripps Research scientists receive up to $12M to create universal vaccine for alphaviruses Funding from ARPA-H will be used to develop a vaccine for alphaviruses in preparation of major outbreaks in the U.S.
December 04, 2024
LA JOLLA, CA Alphaviruses often cause a range of illnesses that lead to fever, rash and debilitating joint pain. While they're historically prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions of the world where virus-transmitting mosquitos are abundant, these mosquitos are expanding to new terrain including the U.S. as global warming intensifies. Alphavirus diseases like eastern equine encephalitis, which inflames the brain and can lead to death, are among the country's emerging threats against which no human vaccine is available.
Despite various efforts in the works to develop vaccines for specific alphaviruses, there's currently no universal vaccine to broadly target a range of virus strains. That means as alphaviruses become more widespread, people will need several jabs rather than one assuming specific vaccines become available.
Now, a collaboration among Scripps Research, Vanderbilt University and others has been awarded more than $46 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a research funding agency of the U.S. government, to develop a universal vaccine against alphaviruses. Scripps Research will receive up to $12 million for its contribution to the project, which is expected to last five years.
The principal investigators at Scripps Research include Torben Schiffner, PhD, who leads immunogen design at the institute; Darrell Irvine, PhD, a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology; Andrew Ward, PhD, a professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology; and Ian Wilson, PhD, who chairs the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and is the Hansen Professor of Structural Biology.
This award combines experts in artificial intelligence (AI) with vaccinologists to accomplish a great deal over a short time span, says Schiffner, who is the lead principal investigator on the award at Scripps Research. We're going to hear a lot more about alphaviruses in the future, and there already have been minor outbreaks in the U.S.
The money from ARPA-H will fund a two-stage project: After a three-year preclinical stage to create an immunogen candidate, the molecule will enter a phase 1 clinical trial for two years if it performs well preclinically. An immunogen is a substance that activates the immune system, helping the body recognize and fight harmful agents like viruses. This is a primary step in vaccine development, as scientists design an immunogen to mimic parts of a virus that way, when the resulting vaccine is administered, the body can learn how to defend itself even if it has never been exposed to the actual virus.
The principal investigators at Scripps Research plan to synergize their deep-seated knowledge in vaccinology with AI-expertise at other institutes, chiefly Vanderbilt University. Collaborators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center will isolate alphavirus antibodies from people who have survived alphavirus-related infections, particularly those that protect against different alphaviruses. The team at Scripps Research will use these antibodies to guide vaccine design. Initially, they will determine the structure of antibodies and how they bind to alphaviruses.
We need to understand where broadly protective antibodies attack and bind to the virus, Schiffner says. We can then use this information to design immunogens that focus antibodies onto regions conserved across alphaviruses.
The team has already identified several such cross-protective antibodies, providing valuable blueprints for immunogen design.
Normally, if you try to immunize with an entire virus, most of the antibodies will target regions that aren't conserved among different viruses, so you get a vaccine that only works for a particular strain, Schiffner explains. There are very few regions that seem to be conserved across alphaviruses, and those are the regions that we want to target for broad protection against all alphaviruses.
Next is testing various immunogen designs with computer models that include AI algorithms. If a design seems promising, it's tested in vitro and in vivo.
But the role of AI doesn't end there; data from ensuing in vitro and in vivo experimentation are fed back to the AI system, which can rapidly analyze antibody sequences, determine whether the immunogen is focusing antibodies on regions conserved across variants, and provide improved algorithms for reoptimizing the vaccine design.
We'll find out if the antibodies actually target the regions that they're supposed to, Schiffner says. And once we get the AI results, we can use the information to improve our immunogen before the next stages; it's an iterative process.
The anticipated result: a broad vaccine that targets both encephalitic and arthritogenic alphaviruses that cause brain or joint inflammation, respectively. Moreover, the algorithms developed for this project could potentially be applied to other viruses, including influenza and HIV.
But the main goal is to have an effective, broad vaccines for alphaviruses before they become a major problem. emphasizes Schiffner.
Immunology & Microbiology Integrative Structural & Computational Biology
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing Vivid Broadcast's audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name ...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Witbe brings its AI-native testing and monitoring infrastructure to Amsterdam: demonstrations on real devices, a peer-reviewed technical paper in the conference...
23/07/2026
Quickplay, Caretta Research, Evergent, and Yospace have announced that the renowned IBC Pride Happy Hour will once again bring the vibe and fun back to IBC on F...
23/07/2026
At IBC2026, Interra Systems will present this year's focus: operational AI at scale for QC, monitoring, and captioning workflows. The industry has moved pas...
23/07/2026
Illusionfx is finally coming!
Alex Perea July 23, 2026
0 Comments
The new website is now live to mark the occasion.
Since the last update, feedback h...
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
Scripps Research scientists receive up to $12M to create universal vaccine for alphaviruses Funding from ARPA-H will be used to develop a vaccine for alphaviruses in preparation of major outbreaks in the U.S.
