International Team Develops AI-Generated Proteins for Smart Molecular Sensors
An international team of researchers, led by Professor Kirill Alexandrov from QUT, has successfully engineered AI-generated proteins that function as smart molecular sensors. These proteins activate only upon detecting specific target molecules, offering a new generation of low-cost biosensors applicable in medicine, environmental monitoring, and biotechnology. The study, published in Nature Biotechnology, demonstrates that these AI-designed protein switches can operate within living bacterial cells and can be linked to electrodes to produce electrical signals, akin to glucose meters. The research challenges traditional beliefs in protein science, showing that sensing proteins do not require large structural changes to function as switches. Instead, subtle changes in protein movement upon target molecule binding are sufficient to activate the proteins. This breakthrough expands the possibilities for protein engineers to design new sensors on demand, potentially supporting portable diagnostic devices and in... 
