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Scientists are using AI to dream up revolutionary new proteins

Huge advances in artificial intelligence mean researchers can design completely original molecules in seconds instead of months.
  1. Ewen Callaway
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In June, South Korean regulators authorized the first-ever medicine, a COVID-19 vaccine, to be made from a novel protein designed by humans. The vaccine is based on a spherical protein ‘nanoparticle’ that was created by researchers nearly a decade ago, through a labour-intensive trial-and error-process1.

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Nature 609, 661-662 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02947-7

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 21 September 2022: The original version of the story indicated that David Baker’s team determined the structure of 30 of their nanoparticle designs and found that 27 matched the AI prediction. In fact, not all of the researchers’ experimental methods were intended to determine structure.

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