Technology
An AI was tasked with creating proteins with anti-microbial properties. Researchers then created a subset of the proteins and found some did the job
Proteins are made of chains of amino acids
CHRISTOPH BURGSTEDT/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
An AI has designed anti-microbial proteins that were then tested in real life and shown to work. The same approach could eventually be used to make new medicines.
Proteins are made of chains of amino acids. The sequence of those acids determine the protein’s shape and function.
Ali Madani at Profluent, a biotechnology start-up in California, and his colleagues used an AI to design millions of new proteins, then created a small sample of those to test whether they worked.