Year: 2021
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Breakthrough of the Year
The journal Science has selected artificial intelligence algorithms that predict the three-dimensional shapes of proteins — as well as the blizzard of protein structures they have revealed — as their 2021 Breakthrough of the Year. We are honored to have our work in this field recognized alongside that of the company DeepMind. As David Baker told…
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Deep learning dreams up new protein structures
Just as convincing images of cats can be created using artificial intelligence, new proteins can now be made using similar tools. In a new report in Nature, we describe the development of a neural network that “hallucinates” proteins with new, stable structures. “For this project, we made up completely random protein sequences and introduced mutations…
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UW BIOFAB: a force for reproducible science
This article was written by Renske Dyedov (UW) Key to advancing any new scientific discovery is the ability for researchers to independently repeat the experiments that led to it. In science today, particularly biology, the lack of reproducibility between experiments is a major problem that slows scientific progress, wastes resources and time, and erodes the…
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Deep learning reveals how proteins interact
A team led by scientsts in the Baker lab has combined recent advances in evolutionary analysis and deep learning to build three-dimensional models of how most proteins in eukaryotes interact. This breakthrough has significant implications for understanding the biochemical processes that are common to all animals, plants, and fungi. This open-access work appears in Science.…
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COVID-19 vaccine with IPD nanoparticles meets Phase 1/2 trial goals
This report was written and translated into English by SK bioscience. (Image: SK bioscience) SK bioscience (CEO Jae-yong Ahn) announced on November 4th that the company has confirmed a positive immune response and safety in the final analysis result of the phase I/II clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ‘GBP510,’ co-developed with the Institute…
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Baker lab joins USAID’s $125M project to detect emerging viruses
To better identify and prevent future pandemics, the University of Washington has become a partner in a five-year global, collaborative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development. The newly launched Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens – Viral Zoonoses, or DEEP VZN project, has approximately $125 million in anticipated funding and will be led…
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Stephanie Berger wins additional WRF translational funding
Washington Research Foundation (WRF) has awarded a $700,000 phase three technology commercialization grant to Stephanie Berger, Ph.D., to support the development of an oral biologic for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Berger, a translational investigator at the Institute for Protein Design, received two previous grants totaling $300,500 from WRF for this work. IBD affects roughly three…
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On the passing of Tachi Yamada
Tadataka “Tachi” Yamada MD, KBE served as the Advisory Board Chair of our Institute since its founding almost ten years ago. His tremendous mentorship helped us in innumerable ways to grow from a single-PI Institute founded by David Baker to a group of five faculty and almost 200 scientists and staff. Tachi also helped…
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RoseTTAFold: Accurate protein structure prediction accessible to all
Today we report the development and initial applications of RoseTTAFold, a software tool that uses deep learning to quickly and accurately predict protein structures based on limited information. Without the aid of such software, it can take years of laboratory work to determine the structure of just one protein. With RoseTTAFold, a protein structure can be…
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Annual Report 2021
From our deep-learning research to our new clinical trials, we are pleased to present this overview of the progress made at the Institute for Protein Design during the past year. 2021 Annual Report
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Dr. Roy awarded WRF translational funding
Washington Research Foundation (WRF) has awarded a $250,000 phase 2 technology commercialization grant to Anindya Roy, Ph.D., to further develop a novel miniprotein binder for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Roy, an acting instructor in David Baker’s lab at the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design (IPD), is building on positive results…
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Two nanoparticle vaccines enter clinical trials
Two different candidate vaccines developed by researchers at the Institute for Protein Design recently entered human clinical trials. GBP510, a candidate COVID-19 vaccine, is undergoing a combined Phase 1/2 trial. Flu-Mos-v1, a candidate mosaic influenza vaccine, is undergoing Phase 1 testing. Candidate COVID-19 vaccine Our SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate was created with structure-based vaccine design techniques…
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Nanoparticle flu shot blocks seasonal and pandemic strains
IPD researchers together with collaborators at the National Institutes of Health have developed experimental flu shots that protect animals from a wide variety of seasonal and pandemic influenza strains. The lead vaccine candidate has entered human clinical testing at the NIH. If it proves safe and effective, these next-generation influenza vaccines may replace current seasonal…
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George Ueda and James Lazarovits awarded WRF translational funding
The Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH) has announced investments in three new awards, including one to researches at the Institute for Protein Design, to expedite early-stage product development for promising biomedical innovations. The three awards are intended to reduce skin injury from wound dressing, to treat COVID-19 induced viral sepsis, and to…
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Companion proteins enhance antibody potency
This week we report the design of new proteins that cluster antibodies into dense particles, rendering them more effective. In laboratory testing, such clustered antibodies neutralize COVID-19 pseudovirus, enhance cell signaling, and promote the growth of T cells more effectively than do free antibodies. This new method for enhancing antibody potency may eventually be used…
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A deep learning approach to protein design
Scientists at the IPD and Ovchinnikov lab at Harvard have applied deep learning to the challenge of protein design, yielding a new way to quickly create protein sequences that fold up as desired. This breakthrough has broad implications for the development of protein-based medicines and vaccines. Computational protein design has primarily focused on finding amino…
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trRosetta yields structures for every protein family
The field of protein structure prediction has greatly advanced in recent years thanks to increasingly accurate deep-learning methods. A new such method, called trRosetta developed at the Institute for Protein Design, has now made thousands of protein structures available via EMBL-EBI’s Pfam and InterPro data resource. More than 6300 protein structures have been predicted in this way and are…
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Design of transmembrane beta barrels
Biochemists have created barrel-shaped proteins that embed into lipid membranes, expanding the bioengineering toolkit. In a milestone for biomolecular design, a team of scientists has succeeded in creating new proteins that adopt one of the most complex folds known to molecular biology. These designer proteins were shown in the lab to spontaneously fold into their…
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Dr. Berger awarded WRF translational funding
Washington Research Foundation (WRF) has provided a $250,000 grant to support work carried out by Stephanie Berger, Ph.D., on a new therapeutic for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A grant of $50,500 from WRF in 2019 and an award from Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH) in 2020 enabled Berger, a translational investigator at the…
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New sensors detect coronavirus proteins and antibodies
This week we report [PDF] a new way to detect the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as antibodies against it. Scientists at the Institute for Protein Design have created protein-based sensors that glow when mixed with components of the virus or specific antibodies. This breakthrough could enable faster and more widespread testing in the near…
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Protein patches boost cell signaling
Today we report the design of a new class of protein material that interacts with living cells without being absorbed by them. These large, flat arrays built from multiple protein parts can influence cell signaling by clustering and anchoring cell surface receptors. This breakthrough could have far-reaching implications for stem cell research and enable the…