Designer enzymes act as molecular scissors for disease proteins
Scientists at the UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design used computational methods to create brand new proteases, enzymes that snip another protein at a specific point the researchers choose. In two studies published in Nature, the team tested these designs on purified proteins, on sequences from proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease and ALS, and in one study inside living human cells grown in the lab. Unlike most drugs, which bind one target molecule at a time, an enzyme can act again and again. That could someday mean treatments that work at much lower doses, or that neutralize harmful proteins such as toxins outright. The researchers describe it as a major step for protein design.