Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the world as we know it. From healthcare to transportation, finance to education, AI is transforming industries and changing the way we live and work.
In healthcare, AI is being used to analyze large amounts of patient data and improve patient outcomes. Machine learning algorithms can help identify patterns and trends in patient data, which can be used to improve diagnosis and treatment options. AI is also being used to develop new drugs and improve the efficiency of clinical trials.
In transportation, AI is being used to optimize routes, reduce fuel consumption and improve the safety of autonomous vehicles. Smart traffic systems use AI to improve the flow of traffic and reduce congestion on roads.
But AI is far from done when it comes to leaving us in astonishment.
Turning genes on and off
Scientists have created an AI-driven program that allows for the production of customized proteins, known as zinc fingers, to treat genetic diseases. By using zinc fingers to edit genes, researchers can correct errors in the DNA code that cause illnesses such as cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, and sickle cell anemia. Scienceboard.net tells us more.
This new AI program, called ZFDesign, models and designs the interactions between zinc fingers and DNA by analyzing data from 50 billion possible interactions, thus overcoming the difficulty of designing zinc fingers for specific tasks. Additionally, zinc-finger editing may be a safer alternative to CRISPR gene-editing technology, as it uses small human-derived proteins as opposed to bacterial proteins that could trigger an immune response.
Marcus Noyes, PhD, the senior author of the study, explained:
By speeding up zinc finger design, coupled with their smaller size, our system paves the way for using these proteins to control multiple genes at the same time,
This approach may help correct diseases that have multiple genetic causes, such as heart disease, obesity, and many cases of autism.
The team behind ZFDesign plans to refine the program to create more precise zinc-finger groupings for targeted gene editing.
