Institute Led by UW Nobel Winner Uses AI to Build Molecular Scissors Targeting Disease Proteins

Researchers at UW Medicine’s Institute for Protein Design (IPD) have created new proteins that act like molecular scissors, chopping up targets associated with Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The University of Washington scientists are using sophisticated AI models developed at IPD to design proteins called proteases – a class of enzymes that cut specific proteins at specific locations in their structure.