UW Medicine team’s AI-designed proteins offer new hope for snakebite treatment
Every year, over 2 million people suffer from poisonous snakebites. There are more than 100,000 fatalities and 300,000 severe complications annually, primarily affecting tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
But far away at the University of Washington Medicine in Seattle, researchers are leveraging machine learning — a subset of artificial intelligence — and synthetic proteins to counteract the damaging effects of a bite. The collaborative research effort focused on finding ways to neutralize venom from elapids, a large group of poisonous snakes including cobras and mambas.
Current antivenom treatments, which use antibodies from immunized animals, are costly, less effective against three-finger toxins (chemicals that damage bodily tissues), and can cause severe side effects. In contrast, the designed proteins from UW Medicine and their collaborators offer the potential for safer, more cost-effective, and more accessible treatments. Research findings were published Jan. 15 in the journal Nature.