AI beats human experts when it comes to peptide design

A machine learning algorithm tasked with designing peptides that form self-assembled structures outperformed leading experts in a head-to-head. Though the machine fell into some traps that the human experts avoided, it also discovered some highly novel peptides.

Peptide self-assembly is crucial to numerous areas of biology such as collagen formation in skin, hair and nails, and is involved in diseases such as Alzheimer’s. It also has applications outside biology. ‘Our own interest is in developing new materials for sensing like bio-electronics,’ says chemist Chris Fry of Argonne National Laboratory in the US.