Re: AI
Although the <sarc>
tag was certainly noticed (and enjoyed!), it does go to the exact heart of the matter: designing proteins like this is all very good and nice, but this is just such a small step in the complete life of proteins and the processes they trigger and influence. And this is just for the part that we know about. So sure, let them have their minute of lime light with their marketing press release because it helps their bottom line. But please, let's hum Public Enemy while reading it. Fiddling behind your screen to simulate real life is nice, can help, but please do not forget to get out sometimes into the real world.
Did it get those weird bent ones that used to be found in British Beef at the turn of the century?
For example, nobody even knew that prions (those weird bent ones) could be transferred between animals "effectively" (not in the AI). We did find that out though when British farmers (and regulators) thought it was a good idea to mince dead cows (including their BSE brains) and feed them to other cows. Not in the Ai too. Cheap human behaviour however. And then it turned out these prions also worked pretty well in humans. I can remember watching the news on the Beeb at that time, noticing that the meat industry was working hard on their messaging through the royals, who stated: "There is nothing wrong with our excellent British beef! I had some this morning!"
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Yes, indeed. A shiny endorsement.
But more to the point: the structure of a protein is just such a minute part of what a protein does, doesn't do, could do, or should. In addition it is subject to many interwoven processes, that might not even seem that important. Just one is what medicine/ pharmacology/ toxicology/ science calls "PK" or pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, which tries to capture how that (in this case) protein is introduced, absorbed, and worked on on its way to the other end of the human tunnel. Going into it here would be excessive (and for some no doubt boring), but imagine this: we are going to make a protein tablet to treat that cancer right? OK... So how to we make sure your stomach, which is very efficient at digesting protein to generate energy, doesn't break it down together with the protein of that fry up you had this morning?