TED Talks Daily Why building new proteins from scratch is our new superpower | David Baker
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Jul 25, 2025 
David Baker, a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, leads a groundbreaking team that employs AI to engineer new proteins with unique functions. He discusses how these innovations tackle urgent global challenges, such as developing COVID vaccines and cleaning up pollutants. Baker highlights the collaboration between AI and CRISPR in enhancing agricultural resilience. He also reflects on the joy of winning the Nobel Prize and the importance of mentorship in science. Looking ahead, he envisions a future rich with new medicines and solutions from this evolving field.
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Proteins as Biological Workhorses
- Proteins are the key workhorses in biology, enabling almost all life processes through their precise functions.
- Designing new proteins from scratch was historically challenging because natural proteins seemed uniquely complex and difficult to emulate.
AI Revolutionizes Protein Design
- AI now enables designing completely new proteins by training on known protein structures.
- This lets us create synthetic proteins with specific functions, like blocking viruses or targeting cancer cells.
Expanding Protein Design Applications
- Protein design has advanced to produce vaccines, degrade pollutants, remove greenhouse gases, and enable green chemistry.
- These methods solve ambitious problems beyond initial goals, fueling sustainable and medical innovations.