Artificial Intelligence
Claude designs protein binders for scorpion toxins
Anthropic said Claude Science produced hundreds of thousands of binder designs for scorpion toxins, with 17 lab hits and two strongest candidates targeting Cn2 from a Mexican scorpion.
- Anthropic said Claude Science generated 318,484 binder designs for five toxins from four scorpion species.
- After an initial prompt, Claude worked for 24 hours before the research team added more instructions.
- Of 211 designs tested in the lab, 17 met the binding criteria, and the two strongest bound tightly to Cn2.
- The article said the binders appeared to dock at or near the same site as an antibody that neutralises Cn2 in mice, but antivenom activity had not been tested.
Anthropic said its Claude Science environment produced 318,484 candidate binders for five toxins from four scorpion species. Claude worked on its own for 24 hours after the first prompt, and the researchers then added further instructions.
Claude chose 180 candidates and the team added 31 more for laboratory testing. Seventeen of the 211 designs met the binding criteria, and the two strongest bound to Cn2, a toxin from a Mexican scorpion.
The article said laboratory tests suggested the binders acted at or near the same site as an antibody that neutralises Cn2 in mice. It also said they had not yet been tested as antivenom, and that two independent labs confirmed the results. Susana Vázquez Torres and Timothy P. Jenkins described the work as a promising first step.
Named in this story
People
- Susana Vázquez Torres
- an external expert who called the work a promising first step
- Timothy P. Jenkins
- an external expert who called the work a promising first step
Companies
- Anthropic
- the company behind Claude Science
Products and systems
- Claude Science
- the research environment used to design the binders
- Claude
- generated the candidate binder designs and selected some for testing
- Cn2
- the toxin the strongest binders targeted
How the source tells it
The article was mostly a straight science report, with a modestly optimistic note from the hit rates and the external experts' assessment.
- optimism quoted expert praise and comparative hit-rate framing