Vaccines stand as vital defenses against viral diseases, but their efficacy faces challenges from pathogens that defy vaccination due to their inherent high mutation rate and antigenic variation. To combat this, broad-spectrum vaccines targeting multiple viruses emerge as a promising solution. This Research Topic of Frontiers in Immunology delves into their development, exploring the different technology platforms used and the novel tools and techniques that support modern vaccine development. The urgency lies in countering viral adaptability, with ongoing trends favoring vaccines that protect against virus pathogens and their serotypes or variants (existing or predicted to occur in the future) and even against different viruses within the same family.

The objective of this Research Ropic is to gather original scientific papers and review articles that address the challenge of providing protection against viral pathogens that defy vaccination-derived immunity due to their inherent antigenic variability. This includes, and is not limited to, scientific papers (research articles, brief reports, datasets) that report novel findings based on broad-spectrum vaccine platforms, strategies and innovative techniques that improve antigen design and assess potential epitopes that allow for broad-spectrum protection.

This novel collection of Frontiers in Immunology will include a range of topics that are specifically relevant to broadly protective vaccines, through all stages of their development, from proof of concept through preclinical, clinical to licensing stages:

• Novel vaccine technology platforms suitable for developing vaccines targeting multiple viruses or variants, from any virus family
• Deep mutational scanning methods to screen for strong immune-evasive mutations.
• Antigen design strategies
• Strategies to overcome immunological imprinting (original antigenic sin)
• AI-Based and/or AI-Assisted approaches and how they can be integrated in the research pipeline.
• Animal models and preclinical development of broadly protective vaccines
• Evaluation of antigenic composition of broadly protective vaccines
• Regulatory challenges that need to be overcome to license vaccines for potential pandemic pathogens.

Topic Editor Dr. Jennifer Gordon is a program officer for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Drs. Amy Christine Shurtleff, Javier Castillo-Olivares, and Nadia Cohen are employees of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.

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Broad Spectrum Viral Vaccines