Language models similar to those behind ChatGPT have been used to improve antibody therapies against COVID-19, Ebola and other viruses

Ewen Callaway in Nature:

At the height of the pandemic, researchers raced to develop some of the first effective treatments against COVID-19: antibody molecules isolated from the blood of people who had recovered from the disease.

Now, scientists have shown that generative artificial intelligence (AI) can provide a shortcut through some of this laborious process, suggesting sequences that boost the potency of antibodies against viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and ebolavirus. A study published last week in Nature Biotechnology¹ is part of growing efforts to apply ‘neural networks’ similar to those behind the ChatGPT AI platform to antibody design.

More here.