AI vaccine designer joins Wistar to tackle HIV and emerging viruses

The Wistar Institute has appointed vaccinologist Torben Schiffner to its Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, strengthening efforts to develop next-generation immune therapies against highly variable viruses such as HIV and emerging infectious threats.

Schiffner’s work sits at the intersection of molecular biology, computational modelling and AI-based protein design, focusing on engineered immunogens designed to elicit stronger and more durable immune responses. His research is centred on ‘reverse vaccinology 2.0’, an approach that uses data from natural immune responses to guide the rational design of vaccine candidates.

Rather than relying on traditional trial-and-error vaccine development, reverse vaccinology identifies broadly neutralising antibodies found in infected individuals and uses them as blueprints to design immunogens capable of triggering similar protective responses through vaccination.

This strategy is particularly important for rapidly evolving viruses such as HIV and other emerging pathogens, which can evade immune detection through continuous mutation. Schiffner’s work aims to address this challenge by targeting conserved regions of viral structures that are essential for function and less prone to variation.

At Wistar, his research will focus on stepwise immunisation strategies designed to guide antibody development over time, progressively shaping early immune precursors into broadly neutralising antibodies capable of recognising multiple viral variants.

The approach combines AI-driven protein modelling with experimental validation techniques, including high-throughput screening and directed evolution, enabling rapid iteration between computational design and laboratory testing.

“My lab sits at the intersection of computational and experimental science,” said Schiffner. “AI has completely transformed what we can do in terms of immunogen design, while experimental techniques allow us to rapidly test and refine those designs to identify the most promising candidates.”

“Reverse vaccinology 2.0 uses existing knowledge to intelligently design something that induces the exact type of antibody response to specifically engage a pathogen in the most effective way,” he added.

The integration of these approaches is expected to accelerate the development of more universal vaccine strategies, particularly for pathogens that have so far proven difficult to target using conventional methods.

Schiffner previously held a faculty position at The Scripps Research Institute and completed academic training in Hamburg, London and Oxford, specialising in molecular biology, virology and structure-based vaccine design.

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