OpenCRISPR-1, the first AI-designed editor for precise genome editing.

 OpenCRISPR-1, the first AI-designed editor for precise genome editing. 

Exciting to learn that, this novel AI-based approach for designing CRISPR gene editors could potentially expand the capabilities and applications of genome-editing technologies.

In fact, In a recent study, researchers at Profluent Bio (Berkeley, CA, USA) used artificial intelligence (AI) to design novel CRISPR gene editors that are functional and that show comparable or improved genome-editing activity and specificity relative to naturally occurring gene editors, despite being hundreds of mutations away from any known natural protein. This innovative approach has yielded OpenCRISPR-1, the first AI-generated gene editor.

In a proof-of-concept study, OpenCRISPR-1 demonstrated comparable efficiency to the widely used Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9) while offering improved specificity. This development not only expands the CRISPR toolbox but also paves the way for creating gene editors tailored to specific applications, which could range from agriculture to medicine.

»Our LLMs, trained on billions of proteins in nature, are able to learn the sequence-to-function mapping of natural proteins and can be utilised to build functional proteins from scratch, such as OpenCRISPR-1,« said Ali Madani, PhD, founder and CEO of Profluent Bio and senior author of the study.