David Baker lab publishes two Nature papers on AI-designed proteases with billion-fold catalysis
IgorCarron · x · 2026-10-15
Nobel laureate David Baker's team published two Nature papers in a single day, reporting the de novo design of functional proteases with AI:
- Cysteine proteases: 19% success rate, functional in mammalian cells
- Metalloproteases: 36% success rate, with over 10-billion-fold catalytic acceleration versus the uncatalyzed reaction
The work marks a shift from predicting protein structures to designing catalytic function. De novo enzyme design had largely been limited to low-energy-barrier model reactions; hydrolyzing amide bonds is a much harder challenge now demonstrated experimentally.
Related event: Baker Lab Publishes Two Nature Papers on De Novo AI-Designed Proteases(6 posts)→
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