Jennifer Stranges, McMaster University
A study published in Nature Biotechnology reveals a powerful new use for artificial intelligence: designing small, drug-like molecules that can stick to and break down harmful proteins in the body — even when scientists don’t know what those proteins look like. The breakthrough could lead to new treatments for diseases that have long resisted traditional drug development, including certain cancers, brain disorders and viral infections.
The study was published on August 13, 2025, by a multi-institutional team of researchers from McMaster University, Duke University and Cornell University. The AI tool, called PepMLM, is based on an algorithm originally built to understand human language and used in chatbots, but was trained to understand the “language” of proteins.
“Most drug design tools rely on knowing the 3D structure of a protein, but many of the most important disease targets don’t have stable structures,” says Pranam Chatterjee, senior author of the study who led the work at Duke and is now a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania.