Researchers use AI to design proteases capable of cutting specific proteins

Researchers used an AI protein design tool to take the catalytic cores of two proteases and replace the rest, designing enzymes that can be tuned to cut specific proteins, and validated the effect with proteins related to neurological diseases. The article also explains the background that peptide bonds are extremely stable, with an estimated half-life of hundreds of years, while biological proteases can catalyze their cleavage.