Time is essential when it comes to dealing with emergencies like Pandemics and Biothreats.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) artificial intelligence projects could help you prepare for these types of crisis.
Abhishek Singharoy, an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University, currently faces special challenges with DARPA, but is building a new AI program that can predict the function of all known proteins to humans in about an hour.
Called Nodes (the network of optimal dynamic energy signatures), this program combines physics with advanced artificial intelligence to analyze proteins (the molecules that control how disease spreads and how our bodies respond), move and change their shape.
Scientists know the sequence and structure of hundreds of millions of proteins, but only a small percentage of them understand. Rather than relying on fixed protein structure, nodes can make high confidence predictions about what the protein will do by capturing and analyzing proteins in motion.
“If successful, nodes dramatically improve their ability to assess potential threats from new unknown protein sequences,” said Singharoy, who is also an associate at the Biodesign Center for Applied Structure Discovery at ASU. “It also helps speed up the process of turning scientific discoveries into real-world uses, understand complex diseases, strengthen defenses against infectious diseases and biosleets, and ultimately save lives.”
Improved speed and accuracy
Current computational models rely on fixed protein structures that limit accuracy and can process only small data sets. Node captures protein movement and shape changes, expands speed and optimization, assessing approximately 300 million proteins in just an hour, and aims to be more than 90% reliable in forecasts.
You can think of the current model as something like trying to understand a film by looking at a single still frame. You're missing all the actions and context.
Meanwhile, nodes watch the entire film at high speed, letting scientists see how proteins move and behave, and do that for hundreds of millions of proteins in just an hour.
Why this research is important
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“Abhishek's work really illustrates the kind of cutting-edge interdisciplinary research we support in the Department of Molecular Science,” says Tijana Rajh, professor and director of the school. “By combining deep scientific expertise with tools like AI, he and his team are pushing the boundaries of what we can discover and how we can protect human health.”
The speed and range of nodes can prove important at moments of crisis, from identifying potential biological weapons to responding quickly to new infectious disease outbreaks.
Imagine quickly deciphering the function of the new toxin before it can cause harm. The same technology can reduce the risk of biological applications, accelerate drug development, and open doors to new treatments for complex diseases.
“Having a program approved by DARPA makes a lot of sense to me as it reflects not only my own efforts, but also the support, collaboration and inspiration I have received from so many people, including ASU,” Sinharoy said.
“This reminds us of the importance of innovation here at DARPA and motivates us to continue to strive to have a positive impact. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to contribute in the field of molecular biophysics.”
