Our Mission & Goals

Natural proteins evolved over millions of years to solve the most complex challenges on Earth. However, we face new and pressing challenges today.

The goal of the Institute for Protein Design is to develop and apply methods for designing a whole new world of synthetic proteins to address these challenges.

To achieve this, the Institute was established in 2012 to build upon strengths both within the University of Washington and in Seattle generally. Protein design requires high-level expertise in computing and software, biochemistry, genome sciences, biological structure, pharmacology, immunology and other basic science disciplines, as well as clinical medicine.

We are marshaling deep institutional strengths in our faculty, scientific staff, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, our partners from collaborating institutions, innovator networks and from the computer and biotechnology industries — bringing extraordinary expertise to bear on a singular focus to advance the potential of protein design.

What is protein design?

Proteins are the molecular machines that make all living things hum — they stop deadly infections, heal cells and capture energy from the sun. Yet because our basic understanding of how proteins work has until now remained a mystery, humans have only been able to harness the power of proteins by modifying ones we happen to find in nature.

Enabled by decades of basic research, the rise of inexpensive computing, and the genomics revolution in reading and writing DNA, we can now design new proteins from scratch with specific functions.

Our scientists have developed catalysts for chemical reactions, HIV and RSV vaccine candidates, and experimental therapies for diseases like cancer and the flu.

Research Areas