{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-01-15-ai-designed-antivenom/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-01-15-ai-designed-antivenom/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"human editor","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2025-01-15-ai-designed-antivenom","date":"2025-01-15","date_precision":"day","short_title":"AI-designed proteins neutralise deadly snake-venom toxins and protect mice","deck":null,"takeaway":"Baker lab and DTU researchers (Nature, Jan 2025) used RFdiffusion to design small proteins that bind and neutralise cobra three-finger toxins.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Result confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"De novo designed proteins neutralize lethal snake venom toxins (Nature)","url":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08393-x","type":"paper","group":"primary","domain":"nature.com"},{"n":2,"title":"Baker Lab: Neutralizing deadly snake toxins","url":"https://www.bakerlab.org/2025/01/15/neutralizing-deadly-snake-toxins/","type":"official","group":"primary","domain":"bakerlab.org"},{"n":3,"title":"DTU: AI-designed proteins neutralise snake toxins","url":"https://www.dtu.dk/english/newsarchive/2025/01/ai-designed-proteins-neutralise-snake-toxins","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"dtu.dk"}],"official":2,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["University of Washington Institute for Protein Design","Technical University of Denmark"],"title":"AI-designed proteins neutralise deadly snake-venom toxins and protect mice","summary":"Baker lab and DTU researchers (Nature, Jan 2025) used RFdiffusion to design small proteins that bind and neutralise cobra three-finger toxins. Depending on dose, toxin and design, 80–100% of mice survived otherwise lethal doses.","key_facts":["Designed binders against short- and long-chain three-finger toxins","80–100% survival in mice given lethal doses","Small, stable proteins could be cheaper to make than antibody-based antivenoms"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["biology","protein-design","antivenom","global-health"],"science":{"field":"medicine","subfield":"toxinology / protein therapeutics","problem":"Neutralising snake-venom three-finger toxins, poorly handled by existing antivenoms","result":"De novo designed proteins that neutralise lethal toxins in mice.","open_since":"","ai_system":["RFdiffusion","ProteinMPNN"],"human_role":"Human-led with AI tools","verification":{"key":"peer-review","label":"Peer-reviewed","text":"Peer-reviewed in Nature; lab-validated in mice"},"status":"confirmed","shock":""},"body_md":"## What happened\n\nThe team generated binders computationally, tested a small number in the lab, and confirmed protection in animal models.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nSnakebite kills tens of thousands of people a year, mainly in poor regions. Cheap, designed antitoxins show AI protein design aimed at neglected diseases.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2023-07-11-rfdiffusion-protein-design","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2023-07-11-rfdiffusion-protein-design/","date":"2023-07-11","date_precision":"day","short_title":"RFdiffusion: diffusion models design new proteins that work in the lab","deck":null,"takeaway":"It became the workhorse of AI protein design, underlying AI antivenoms, antibodies and enzymes.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":4,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Result confirmed"]},"sources":3,"official":3,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["University of Washington Institute for Protein Design"]}],"people":[],"posts":[],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"filed","text":"Created"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-09-29","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-09-29","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-10-04"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":null,"in_training_data":true},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":null,"in_training_data":true},{"model_id":"gemini-4-hydrogen","name":"Gemini 4 Hydrogen","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":null,"in_training_data":true},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":null,"in_training_data":true}],"short_url":null}