Latest posts
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Designer Proteins to Target Cancer Cells
What if scientists could design a completely new protein that is precision-tuned to bind and inhibit cancer-causing proteins in the body? Collaborating scientists at the UW Institute for Protein Design (IPD) and Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute (MolES) have made this idea a reality with the designed protein BINDI. BINDI (BHRF1-INhibiting Design acting Intracellularly) is…
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Accurate Design of Co-Assembling Multi-Component Protein Nanomaterials
A new paper is out in the June 5 issue of Nature entitled Accurate design of co-assembling multi-component protein nanomaterials. Scientists at the Institute for Protein Design (IPD), in collaboration with researchers at UCLA and HHMI, have built upon their previous work constructing single-component protein nanocages and can now design and build self-assembling…
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May IPD News Roundup
May was a busy month at the IPD, with some new publications and exciting announcements! Learn more here.
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Removing T-cell Epitopes with Computational Protein Design
In a recent PNAS paper entitled “Removing T-cell epitopes with computational protein design”, IPD researchers combine machine learning with computational protein design to demonstrate immune silencing of protein targets. This deimmunization has the potential to reduce or eliminate immunogenicity of protein therapeutics. Learn more at this link.
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Women in Science Lunch Discussion
A recent Nature issue exposed the dismaying fact that many women are deterred from pursuing a career in science, especially at the highest levels (postdoctoral positions, faculty position, scientific advisory boards to start up companies, etc). To talk about this significant gender gap in science and the issues female scientists…
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WRF Awards $8M for the IPD Innovation Fellows Program
May 15, 2014 With a very generous $8 M gift from the Washington Research Foundation (WRF), the IPD has launched the WRF-IPD Innovation Fellows Program supporting research partnerships between the IPD and other Seattle-area research institutes or UW departments. We are recruiting exceptionally talented researchers who have just finished their PhD to join expert laboratories…
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The “Three Dreamer” Protein Design Partnership for Alzheimer’s Disease
The “Three Dreamers” are a group of Seattle-based philanthropists whose family members are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The IPD has partnered with the Three Dreamers, the Foldit community and AD researchers at the UW to design new proteins targeting amyloid, thought to be the cause of AD. Learn more at…
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Beyond Evolution: Protein Design News and Art
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, Alzheimer’s disease amyloid protein, and how the IPD is engaging citizen scientists in the Rosetta@home and…
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Design of Activated Serine-Containing Catalytic Triads with Atomic-Level Accuracy
Baker lab members published in Nature Chemical Biology a paper entitled “Design of activated serine-containing catalytic triads with atomic-level accuracy“, describing the computational design of proteins with idealized serine-containing catalytic triads which can capture and neutralize organophosphate probes. This work has utility in design of scavengers of environmental toxins. Learn…
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Increasing Public Involvement in Structural Biology
Foldit is 5 years old. This publication entitled “Increasing public involvement in structural biology” chronicles the power of engaging the citizen science community on behalf of the computational challenge of protein folding. Learn more at this link.