“Wonderful things”: New medicines powered by AI

Описание: Better treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, viruses and more are now possible thanks to groundbreaking work with AI from the scientists at the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design (IPD) https://www.ipd.uw.edu/. Led by Nobel Prize winner David Baker, this team of Huskies uses AI tools to create proteins — biology’s building blocks — that lay the foundation for new medicines and other promising solutions to complex real-world problems. Read more: uw.edu/boundless/ai-powered-medicine

Baker, UW alum Andrew J. Borst, undergraduate student Samir Faruq, and graduate students Meg Lunn-Halbert and Gizem Gökçe-Alpkılıç talk about how designing new proteins with AI is transforming medicine and beyond    • Could Artificial Intelligence Save the World?  . Proteins are what make life possible on Earth and play a key role in the human body. With the AI-powered tools they’ve created, IPD scientists can create brand-new proteins to rapidly tackle urgent problems like antibiotic resistance, biological threats and breaking down plastics.

“There really was nowhere else in the world where you could be involved in protein design like the University of Washington, because the University of Washington is where protein design started.” — Andrew J. Borst, IPD Head of Electron Microscopy R&D

Baker calls his lab a “communal brain” where scientists work collaboratively across disciplines to create new ideas and solutions. He says his real role is preparing students for future careers by training and mentoring students who — with their UW degree — go on to do “wonderful things,” including starting new biotech companies, many of them in Seattle.



Learn more about Professor David Baker, a recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: uw.edu/boundless/biochemist-david-baker-receives-nobel-prize