Revolutionary AI-Powered Lab Improves Enzymes Quickly and Easily

By combining artificial intelligence with automated robotics and synthetic biology, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have improved performance of industrial enzymes and created a fast process to enhance many more. Led by Huimin Zhao, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, the team reported its findings in the journal Nature Communications.

Enzymes are proteins that carry out specific functions driving biological processes. Zhao's team integrated AI and automated synthetic biology to efficiently improve protein function, particularly enzyme function. They developed an AI model to predict changes that would enhance a known protein's function.

The researchers used the iBioFoundry's automated capabilities to produce and test the suggested enzymes. This process led to the creation of variants of two key industrial enzymes with significantly improved performance.

The team's goal is to apply this method to enhance as many enzymes as possible. They plan to upgrade equipment for faster synthesis and testing and have developed a user interface for easy access to the system.

According to the source: Mirage News.