April 23, 2014   Re/Code writer James Temple writes about protein design “Beyond Evolution“

Re/Code writer James Temple has written an interesting article on David Baker’s efforts to design a new world of proteins.  The article covers the IPD efforts to design proteins that neutralize the flu virus, or sequester Alzheimer’s disease amyloid protein, and how the IPD is engaging citizen scientists in the Rosetta@home and Foldit projects to advance protein design.

Flu Binder
An computationally designed anti-flu binding protein (blue) bound the trimeric hemagglutinin protein of the influenza A virus surface.   This rendering was prepared by Baker lab postdoctoral fellow Vikram Mulligan.

Baker Lab postdoctoral fellow, Vikram Mulligan, has posted onto the Foldit blog a note on how players can help Alzheimer’s disease research by designing new proteins to capture and neutralize the amyloid A-beta protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease.

Foldit Player Designs Anti-Amyloid
The following image and slide was prepared by Brian Koepnick, Graduate Student in the Baker lab who is working with FoldIt players on several iterative rounds of puzzle play to design amyloid A-beta binders

A very artistic and beautiful picture of Digoxigenin Binder 3D Print, by Timothy Herman. Photo by Possu Huang and Christine Tinberg.  The 3D print and picture are inspired by this publication.

Digoxigenin Binder 3D Print, by Timothy Herman. Photo by Possu Huang and Christine Tinberg
Digoxigenin Binder 3D Print, by Timothy Herman. Photo by Possu Huang and Christine Tinberg