We’ve been quiet about protein design at @Xaira_Thera . Here’s what we’ve been building: Introducing X-Design, with results from two active drug programs that show what we think this field needs to deliver: speed to a useful lead, and access to targets that have resisted discovery. → 7 weeks from DNA synthesis to a preclinical lead on an oncology target, with the epitope and reagents already prepared. → A functional antibody antagonist against a challenging GPCR where conventional library screening AND llama immunization had failed. The bar we set for our model goes well beyond binding. The antibodies need to be human-like, functional, cross-reactive across species, and developable. Properties that have to come together in the same molecule for a program to move forward. That’s what makes these results exciting to me: designs tested in the lab, meeting the requirements of real programs in our pipeline. My bet is that the biggest impact of AI protein design will be expanding which diseases and targets we can pursue. We want to choose targets because the biology is compelling and to build the ability to make the right molecules. This is our first look at X-Design. Much more to come. See our blog: xaira.com/news/de-novo-desig…

“You need to be delusional if you want to succeed” A great read!