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AI-Designed Proteins for Immune Cell Generation

04 Aug 2025 GS 3 Science & Technology
AI-Designed Proteins for Immune Cell Generation Click to view full image

Context: 

  • A team of researchers, including some from Harvard and a scientist from Assam, used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to design special proteins.

  • These AI-designed proteins helped the body make more immune cells—especially T cells, which are vital for fighting cancer and infections.

Why T Cells Are Important

  • T cells are a type of white blood cell that fight off viruses, cancers, and other threats.

  • When your body is attacked by an illness, it needs to make more T cells quickly.

  • However, making T cells in large numbers is hard because it needs a signal called the Notch signalling pathway to be activated.

What Is the Notch Signalling Pathway?

  • Think of it as a "go signal" inside the body that tells cells to develop into T cells.

  • This pathway is crucial for T cell formation, but until now, scientists didn’t have a good way to switch it on inside the body.

What’s New About This Research?

  • Using AI, scientists designed new proteins called “Notch agonists” that can activate this pathway.

  • These agonists are soluble—meaning they can work inside the body, not just in lab dishes.

What Were the Results?

  • These proteins helped produce large numbers of T cells in lab settings (like in bioreactors used in hospitals).

  • When tested in mice, the new proteins helped the animals produce stronger and longer-lasting immune responses during vaccination.

  • The mice made more memory T cells, which are essential for long-term protection from disease.

AI-driven protein design technologies, an innovation that contributed to Dr. Baker receiving the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Demis Hassabis and John Jumper

What was the problem before?

  • Earlier, scientists activated the Notch signalling pathway in the lab by attaching Notch ligands to surfaces (like culture dishes).

  • This method only works in laboratory conditions and cannot be used inside a living human body for treatment.

What did the scientists do now?

  • They wanted a method that works inside the body (in vivo), not just in the lab.

  • So, they used Artificial Intelligence to design new proteins called soluble Notch agonists.

    • Soluble means they can flow inside the body, like through the bloodstream.

  • The scientists created a library of these proteins and tested them to see if they could:

    • Activate the Notch pathway

    • Help develop T cells

    • Improve their function

Key Breakthroughs & Applications

1. T Cell Generation in Bioreactors

  • Achieved large-scale production of T cells using AI-designed proteins.

  • Critical for CAR-T cell therapy, used in cancer immunotherapy globally.

2. Enhanced Vaccine Response in Mice

  • Mice injected with agonists during vaccination showed:

    • Improved T cell response.

    • Increased memory T cells, vital for long-term immunity.

3. Implications

  • Immunotherapy: Boosts effectiveness of CAR-T cell treatments.

  • Vaccine Development: Enhances immune response and long-term protection.

  • Regenerative Medicine: Opens avenues for immune cell regeneration.



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