Exciting or horrifying?
Researchers at Stanford University and the Arc Institute used the AI model Evo to generate thousands of candidate viral genomes, from which 302 distinct phage genome candidate... View MoreExciting or horrifying?
Researchers at Stanford University and the Arc Institute used the AI model Evo to generate thousands of candidate viral genomes, from which 302 distinct phage genome candidates were selected for laboratory testing.
The model was trained on a vast dataset of viral genomes and fine-tuned specifically on Microviridae family sequences to generate designs capable of infecting E. coli bacteria.
These 302 candidates were synthesized and experimentally tested, with 16 proving to be viable, functional bacteriophages.
The AI-designed genomes contained numerous mutations not seen in nature, including some with as little as 63% amino acid identity to natural proteins.
This demonstrates that Evo can design entirely new viral genomes from scratch, going beyond known templates to create viable, novel biological systems.