Scientists just launched a $95 million attempt to create proteins that have never existed in nature.

Here's the full story, via the Allen Institute.

"'Endless forms most beautiful' was how Charles Darwin described the spectacular diversity of nature... But that diversity, which evolved over billions of years, is only a fraction of what could exist given the trillions of DNA sequences available in nature." AI BioDesign, a collaboration between the Allen Institute, University of Washington, and Fred Hutch Cancer Center, was launched to explore that uncharted design space.

"For the first time, the speed of AI is beginning to match the experimental power of synthetic biology," said Nobel laureate David Baker, lead scientific director. "That changes the question from 'what has nature already made?' to 'what else is possible, and how can we test it?'"

"AI models will propose new biological designs, scientists will build and test those designs at scale, and the results will feed back into the models such that each round becomes more accurate and informative. Over time, this design-build-measure-learn cycle will help researchers move from trial and error toward more predictable biological engineering."

Jay Shendure, the initiative's other lead scientific director, situates it historically: "Over the last two centuries, engineering has transformed the world at least three times: the Industrial Revolution, electrification and mechanization, and the digital revolution. We believe engineering's fourth act lies at the intersection of AI and biology."

"The goal is to learn and model the rules biology uses to build life, enabling the potential development of everything from new drugs to treat cancer and neurodegeneration, to enzymes that can break down plastics in the ocean, to biological computers that use vastly less power than current silicon chips." Principal investigator Sanjay Srivatsan added a concrete example: designing "cells that can remove cancer from the body."

Rui Costa, president and CEO of the Allen Institute, said: "The Allen Institute was built for this kind of work: big science, team science, and open science that creates resources entire fields can use." Marc Malandro, chief programs officer at the Fund for Science and Technology, which is providing the funding: "AI BioDesign is exactly the kind of ambitious, collaborative science FFST was created to support."

This is a five-year research accelerator just launching, not a finished therapy. Its stated distinction is openness: shared models, datasets, assays, reagents, and benchmarks that the broader scientific community can build on.

Source: Allen Institute: https://alleninstitute.org/news/ai-biodesign-accelerator-combines-experimental-biology-and-artificial-intelligence-to-learn-natures-design-rules

Want practical AI guidance for parents and educators every week? Subscribe: https://www.aibyage.com/?modal=signup&utm_source=beehiiv&utm_medium=newsletter