Protein Design Contests
To put AI and other modern computer methods for protein engineering to the test
Rosetta Winter Protein Design Games, and an Enhanced TEV Protease Designed in the 2024 Edition
The Winter RosettaCon 2024 in Boston introduced the inaugural Winter Protein Design Games, challenging teams to enhance the activity of the TEV protease, an enzyme commonly used for targeted protein cleavage. Sponsored by Liberum Bio, which synthesized and tested the designs in just eight days, the competition saw seven teams register, with five submitting final designs. Participants used advanced computational tools, including AlphaFold, ProteinMPNN, and molecular dynamics simulations, to design protease variants with improved cleavage efficiency over the wild type.
Team 6 emerged as the winner, achieving significant activity enhancements through a strategy combining literature-informed mutations, structural modeling, and targeted redesign of the enzyme’s active site. Their approach yielded four…
