(Nature) – Proteins designed using artificial intelligence (AI) can block the lethal effects of toxins delivered in the venom of cobras, adders and other deadly snakes. The AI-designed proteins could form the basis of a new generation of therapies for snakebites — which kill an estimated 100,000 people each year and are still treated much as they were a century ago.

The study, published in Nature on 15 January, is also a demonstration of how machine learning has supercharged the field of computational protein design. Challenges that used to take months or years, or even prove impossible — such as designing a new protein to successfully block another — can now be accomplished in seconds. (Read More)