Reverse vaccinology (RV), the first application of genomic technologies in 
vaccine research, represented a major revolution in the process of discovering 
novel vaccines. By determining their entire antigenic repertoire, researchers 
could identify protective targets and design efficacious vaccines for pathogens 
where conventional approaches had failed. Bexsero, the first vaccine developed 
using RV, has recently received positive opinion from the European Medicines 
Agency. The use of RV initiated a cascade of changes that affected the entire 
vaccine development process, shifting the focus from the identification of a 
list of vaccine candidates to the definition of a set of high throughput screens 
to reduce the need for costly and labor intensive tests in animal models. It is 
now clear that a deep understanding of the epidemiology of vaccine candidates, 
and their regulation and role in host-pathogen interactions, must become an 
integral component of the screening workflow. Far from being outdated by 
technological advancements, RV still represents a paradigm of how 
high-throughput technologies and scientific insight can be integrated into 
biotechnology research.