Bioinformatics in design of antiviral vaccines

Viral diseases and epidemics are occurring across the world with increasing frequency and with incidences of new and old viruses with renewed vigor. Traditional drugs and vaccines with their long developmental times, incidences of allergenic reactions, growth of resistant strains and other issues are proving inadequate to curb the menace. Advancements in computer science and technology, in genetics and immunology and the growth of the new science of bioinformatics are leading to a more focused approach in a new paradigm of vaccine design that challenges the traditional approach and promises to be more effective; lead times should get much shorter, preselection of peptide antivirals will be designed to preclude allergenic reactions, stability against mutational changes to viral strains will be much more assured, and coverage of immunological status will enable community-specific vaccines development. We outline in this article the basics of viruses, immune responses, and traditional vaccines and move on to describe the bioinformatics methods and development of new vaccines.