Two biotech companies are joining forces to use artificial intelligence to create new enzymes that could advance cancer research and other scientific fields.
Integrated DNA Technologies, or IDT, announced Tuesday it’s working with Profluent Bio to combine AI-powered protein design with traditional genomics expertise. The collaboration aims to speed up the development of enzymes — proteins that act as catalysts in biological reactions.
IDT, a Redwood City, California-based company owned by Danaher, specializes in genomics and has built a reputation for developing enzymes used in scientific research. Profluent Bio, based in Emeryville, California, uses AI to design proteins from scratch.
“By integrating Profluent’s AI-driven protein design with IDT’s enzymology and genomics expertise, we will unearth new possibilities across a broad range of critical applications, from epigenetics to cancer research and beyond,” IDT President Ajay Gannerkote said in a statement.
The partnership will use Profluent’s AI models, which have been trained on billions of protein sequences, to design new enzyme variants. IDT will then test and manufacture these AI-designed proteins using its existing infrastructure.
Profluent CEO Ali Madani said the collaboration reflects the belief that AI-designed proteins can improve enzyme efficiency and precision beyond what nature has already produced through evolution.
The partnership also supports IDT’s recently established innovation center in the Bay Area and its focus on oncology research.
Profluent, founded in 2022, has already made waves in the biotech world by creating OpenCRISPR-1, which it calls the world’s first AI-generated gene editor.
