Rapid advances in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) have revolutionized protein science and opened up new possibilities in protein structure prediction and design. “While protein structures can now be predicted with a high degree of accuracy, the design of new proteins with tailor-made functions remains a complex challenge. The goal of the new Priority Program is to overcome these hurdles. In particular, new AI methods will be developed that take into account the chemical and biophysical properties of polypeptide chains in order to design functional proteins,” says Humboldt Professor Meiler, head of the Institute for Drug Development at the Faculty of Medicine.

The eight new alliances, which were selected from 53 submitted initiatives, will receive a total of around €55 million from the DFG for an initial period of three years. In the coming months, the DFG will announce the Priority Programs individually in order to invite interested scientists to participate in the alliances. The Priority Programs will be funded for a total of six years.

[Cited from Leipzig university press release / Anne Grimm; DFG fördert Schwerpunktprogramm der Uni Leipzig zu KI]