Life by Design: from DNA to AI-generated Proteins

“…dsjn dwm eat greens nds look both ways vqs…” – that’s DNA: gibberish, scattered with regions called genes where the sequence of alphabets encodes the instructions of life. But there’s a twist: while printed sentences do not change the properties of the paper, DNA sequence changes the local material properties of DNA. This matters, because proteins that ‘read’ genes physically grab, bend, or twist DNA to do their job. Thus information in gene sequence alters the physical properties of DNA via a “mechanical code”, in turn affecting how that very information is read by cells.

Tiny containers can be made from proteins that can carry useful cargo such as medicines. We use a natural protein called TRAP that self-assembles into small rings and link them together to form cage-like structures. By adding a specially designed chemical linker with a “clickable” handle, we create new attachment points on the cage surface. This allows other molecules, such as drugs or targeting tags, to be easily added. The cages are highly stable and can be designed to break apart under certain conditions, making them promising tools for drug delivery, cell targeting, and other nanotechnology applications.

Proteins are the tiny machines that make life happen. They let us see, smell, hear, digest food, fight disease and do almost everything else in the body. The amazing part? They’re programmable. If DNA is the blueprint, proteins are the machines built from it. Now, with artificial intelligence, scientists can teach computers the rules of how proteins work. That means that we can start designing brand-new proteins to tackle challenges in healthcare, agriculture and industry, maybe even doing things that have never been possible before.