Vaccines are among the most powerful tools in modern medicine, and few advances illustrate this better than mRNA vaccines, which changed the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. BDG Lifesciences' 15-Day Design of Protein and mRNA Vaccines program introduces high school students to the computational science behind modern vaccine development, showing how scientists use bioinformatics and immunoinformatics tools to identify antigens, predict immune responses, design vaccine candidates, and evaluate safety, all before laboratory testing begins. The program runs as fifteen live 90-minute sessions over Zoom and is built around two structured, hands-on case studies rather than theory alone.

Days 1 through 7 take students through the design of a protein-based vaccine in the program's first case study. Students begin with foundational concepts, including an introduction to vaccines and the immune system, the distinction between conventional and computational vaccinology, and the principles of reverse vaccinology and immunoinformatics. They then move into hands-on computational design, retrieving pathogen protein sequences and predicting antigenicity, allergenicity, and toxicity. Students perform advanced immune analysis including B cell epitope prediction (both linear and conformational), T cell epitope prediction, MHC Class I and II peptide prediction, population coverage analysis, and epitope conservancy and clustering. They then design a novel vaccine sequence and evaluate its primary and secondary protein structure, functional domains, 3D structure through homology modeling, antibody structure prediction, docking, and structure visualization, supported by IEDB database analysis.

Days 8 through 14 shift to designing an mRNA vaccine in the program's second case study. Students are introduced to DNA, mRNA, replication, and transcription, along with the applications of mRNA vaccine technology. They then follow a second case study involving retrieval of protein sequences from a disease-causing microbe, antigenicity and allergenicity prediction, B cell and T cell epitope prediction, MHC Class I and II epitope prediction, and population coverage analysis. Students design novel mRNA vaccine candidates and perform codon optimization, antigenicity/allergenicity/toxicity evaluation, primary, secondary, and tertiary structure prediction, structure analysis, and antibody retrieval and docking with structure visualization. Day 15 closes the program with a revision and concept integration session that consolidates learning and reinforces the complete vaccine design workflow.

This program is designed for students interested in immunology and infectious diseases, medicine and public health, biotechnology and vaccine research, science fair projects, or computational biology and biomedical innovation. Sessions are led by trainers with research backgrounds in bioinformatics, computational biology, molecular modeling, and genomics, several of whom have mentored students to science fair recognition and peer-reviewed publication. Each session includes a written summary and recording for later review, and participants receive a Certificate of Completion from BDG Lifesciences.

The program fee is $254 USD.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this program cover both traditional protein vaccines and modern mRNA vaccines?
Yes. The program is built around two complete case studies: the first walks students through designing a protein-based vaccine (Days 1–7), and the second walks them through designing an mRNA vaccine (Days 8–14), covering both major vaccine design approaches used in modern biomedical research.

What is epitope prediction, and will students actually perform it themselves?
Epitope prediction identifies the specific regions of a pathogen's proteins that the immune system recognizes. Students perform hands-on B cell and T cell epitope prediction, along with MHC Class I and II peptide prediction and population coverage analysis, using the same computational approach researchers use in reverse vaccinology.

Do students need a background in immunology before starting this program?
No prior immunology background is required. The program begins with foundational concepts covering vaccines and the immune system before progressing into hands-on computational vaccine design work.

What is codon optimization and why is it covered in the mRNA vaccine case study?
Codon optimization adjusts the genetic sequence of an mRNA vaccine candidate to improve how efficiently it is translated into protein inside human cells. Students perform this step themselves as part of the mRNA vaccine design case study, alongside antigenicity, allergenicity, and toxicity evaluation.

How does this program help with science fair or college application goals?
Students apply real immunoinformatics methods, including epitope prediction, antigen screening, structural modeling, and docking simulations, that can be directly developed into infectious disease or immunology-focused science fair projects, while demonstrating advanced biomedical research initiative on college applications.

How long is the program and how are sessions delivered?
The program runs for 15 consecutive days, with one live 90-minute session per day delivered over Zoom. Each session includes a written summary for revision, and recordings are shared for future reference.

What is the cost of the program and what does it include?
The program costs $254 USD and includes fifteen live 90-minute sessions, daily session summaries, recordings of all sessions, two full vaccine design case studies, and a Certificate of Completion upon successful program completion.

Why is the registration fee charged in Australian Dollars (AUD) if the program fee is listed in USD?
Registration and payment are processed through Humanitix, our Australian payment platform. The ticket price shown in AUD at checkout is equivalent to the USD fee listed on this page, based on the prevailing exchange rate at the time of payment.