AI protein design

Designing AI-Engineered Enzymatic Proteins to Break Down Proteins Linked to Neurological Diseases

Researchers from David Baker’s team at the University of Washington used AI protein-design tools to build proteases capable of cleaving specific protein sequences, including targets associated with Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. The designs showed measurable activity and major improvements after the introduction of optimized mutations, but they remain less efficient than natural enzymes and face significant obstacles before any therapeutic use.