Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

What will viruses do next? AI is helping scientists predict their evolution

Forecasts of viral variation could improve vaccine and antiviral treatments ahead of time.
  1. Smriti Mallapaty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

The holy grail of pandemic preparedness is being able to predict how a virus will evolve just by looking at its genetic sequence. Those days are still a way off, but a growing number of research groups are using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, influenza and other viruses.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 637, 527-528 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-04195-3

References

  1. Hie, B., Zhong, E. D., Berger, B. & Bryson, B. Science 371, 284–288 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Jian, F. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08315-x (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lin, Z. et al. Science 379, 1123–1130 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Youssef, N. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.10.08.561389 (2024).

  5. Ito, J. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.15.584819 (2024).

  6. Han, W. et al. Nature Commun. 14, 3478 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Lamb, K. D. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.07.05.602129 (2024).

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links