When this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry went to three scientists for their work in protein structure prediction and design, the decision was indicative of a zeitgeist in biotech.
“[A] dream of scientists has been to build new proteins, to learn how to use nature’s multitool for our own purposes … opening endless possibilities for the greatest benefit to humankind,” Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Prize committee for chemistry, said while announcing the prize.
Many biotech startups have emerged in the last decade or so hoping to capitalize on that dream with help from artificial intelligence. Proteins make life possible. In the therapeutics industry, the most popular proteins are antibodies that dock into specific protein targets, but the protein family also encompasses enzymes that catalyze cellular reactions, gene-editing systems, and proteins that transport ions and biomolecules within the body.
Startups hope to use AI to design proteins more quickly that are better at doing these tasks, or perhaps that are capable of accomplishing tasks nature hasn’t figured out how to do itself. Judging by the speed at which these companies are raising capital and striking deals valued at a billion dollars or more, these goals are quickly becoming more mainstream.
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