As it looks to one day move beyond COVID-19 vaccines and take its mRNA tech to other diseases, Moderna has established a new artificial intelligence training program for its employees in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University.
The company’s AI Academy represents a “broader investment in a digital-first culture,” according to Moderna. Curriculums are designed for working professionals on topics such as machine learning algorithms, ethics, statistical models and data visualization, with instructors from a top-ranked graduate school program in AI and computer science.
“As we look at the next 10-20 years, we believe that we have to learn as fast as we can to maximize the impact of mRNA technologies to patients and scale our company in a very different way than large companies have scaled in the last decades,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement.
The company said it plans to launch the program next week with its first group of students before the academy’s full rollout in 2022.
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After demonstrating the ability of its mRNA technology to be used as a vaccine against COVID-19, Moderna recently announced it would work to vary its shot’s genetic payload to target the rising omicron variant.
Moderna previously referred to messenger RNA as the “software of life”—the parts of the genome actively used by cells to produce specific proteins, while DNA acts as long-term storage in the nucleus. Its own medications, by contrast, act like apps that provide instructions for a single protein.
By altering its vaccine’s coded instructions, immune cells can be trained to better match up with omicron’s mutated spike protein. Similar approaches are being taken by Moderna to address the flu, and the company is also exploring the potential of its approach in the treatment of heart failure through a collaboration with AstraZeneca.
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Today, Moderna posted early, phase 1 data for its influenza vaccine, which targets four common strains that the World Health Organization has identified. Known as mRNA-1010, the shot encodes for the hemagglutinin protein, found on the surface of influenza cells, which helps the virus attach and enter human cells.
After 29 days, the preliminary tests showed the vaccine boosted the immune system’s inhibition of hemagglutinin at all doses in both younger and older adults. Moderna said it has finished enrollment for mRNA-1010’s phase 2 study and is prepping for a phase 3 alongside the development of two new flu candidates, mRNA-1011 and mRNA-1012, targeting additional hemagglutinin antigens.