Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed an AI-based platform that designs short proteins, termed peptides, capable of binding and destroying previously undruggable disease-causing proteins. Inspired by OpenAI’s image generation model, their new algorithm can rapidly prioritize peptides for experimental testing.
The work appeared Jan. 22 in the journal Science Advances.
One approach to treat disease is to develop therapeutics that can specifically target and destroy the proteins driving it. Sometimes these key proteins have well-defined structures, like a neatly folded origami crane, so conventional small molecule therapies can easily bind to them. But more than 80% of disease-causing proteins instead resemble a messy ball of yarn — disordered and tangled — making it incredibly difficult for standard…