5 challenges we could solve by designing new proteins | David Baker

Proteins are remarkable molecular machines: they digest your food, fire your neurons, power your immune system and so much more. What if we could design new ones, with functions never before seen in nature? In this remarkable glimpse of the future, David Baker shares how his team at the Institute for Protein Design is creating entirely new proteins from scratch -- and shows how they could help us tackle five massive challenges facing humanity. (This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)
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[@15SecNut]

Baker's lab is the entire reason why I'm transferring to UW. Being able to participate with some of the greatest scientists on groundbreaking and paradigm-crushing breakthroughs is honestly my only aspiration. This lab is going to help usher in a new age of human prosperity and I'm psyched to be able to live through it.

[@racerromeo]

What’s UW?

[@guerrahp5180]

University of Washington.

[@Dabidabida]

DeepMind did it

[@johanjonasson4188]

How's it going today at UW?

[@farhanaf832]

I am participating Rosetta at home 😁

[@iiNeedSkins]

Studied this guy's work at college, protein informatics is the future of medicine.

[@AhmedAbdAllahSalem]

I am just curious to know your college

[@iiNeedSkins]

@@AhmedAbdAllahSalem I am at a Institute Of Technology in Ireland.

[@immortalimmortal5353]

And remember that the ultimate goal is eternal youth and an eternal autonomous capsule house! In which roots and plants get everything, using programmable nature

[@ayushupadhyay801]

could i get notes ?

[@scatteredvideos1]

I'm going to visit Baker's Lab this weekend because I have an interview for UWs PhD in Chemistry/Biochemistry program. After watching this I feel even more honored to have received this interview than I did before. Wish me luck everyone, and best of luck to all of your future chemists and engineers.

[@EternalEchoes328]

who's here after deep mind figured out protein fold?

[@rafeeque_mavoor]

Meeeeeeeeeeee

[@DallianOfficial]

crazy stuff

[@1986verity]

Not alone

[@LoveB1]

🖐🏾

[@gregh7457]

There is talk that this problem hasn't been solved. They say Deepmind's AI methods rely on learning the rules of protein folding from existing protein structures. This means that it may find it more difficult to predict the structures of proteins with folds that are not well represented in the database of solved structures.

[@ramo4uuuu]

People dont realize yet that what this man told us about will change our lifes completly

[@zealot1023]

Like the quantum computer and the 5g technology. 2020's will be crazy times...

[@SalTarvitz]

They have it already

[@wokeclub1844]

​@@zealot1023damn. So this is how time travel feels like

[@nikoladechkov525]

Interesting perspective, definitely a topic that is important for all of us ✌🏻

[@pedroemanuel376]

The third video is amazing! I have studied a lot about this, in the sense that I have curricular components like immunology, biology and biochemistry that stimulate this. Proteins are amazing and science, despite my many criticisms, is also. My favorite part of the video is when amino acids appear to form proteins, still early on. it's pretty cool how something specific can revolutionize the world, but I think it's going to take a lot of time, especially on smart cancer therapy. Finally, I think it's worth seeing something about enzymes too, and that fits the theme.

[@sukorileakbatt294]

I mean it couldn't be clearer. Hats off to this guy and to TED for making it so clear.

[@viniciuspereirawochz]

OMG, This is Awesome, David. Thanks for bringing your ideas with so many clarity and naturalness. I loved the 3d representations of proteins and amino acids, looks great imagine trillions and trillions of things like that in our body. The idea of create peptides is so interesting, but so complex. However, I have hope in a future guided by science, and also that all of this can be normal in future, helping people and improving our power as humans. My favourite part was your quote: ...Bring biology out of stone age to a technological revolution... As a biology student, this quote gave me "positive goosebumps", and inspiration to proceed in the science way! Thanks!

[@porkchop2218]

Being a pediatric RN for the last 30 years I have pioneered through the technologies we see today. I have seen many babies die of RSV and influenza. how nice it would be to have RSV and Flu Irradicated before I retire. I am excited to see the future of medicine. I hope to see a cure for cancer before it is my turn to get it.

[@aMasterSmoker]

You really should look up dr. Sebi and alkaline diet

[@porkchop2218]

aMasterSmoker I will. My brother is fighting lung and brain cancer. He is the picture of healthy person. Avid mountain climber 🧗‍♀️ eats healthy not a smoker or drinker. Was in the Navy for like 20 years. But yes I heard something about sugar feeding cancer.

[@aMasterSmoker]

@@porkchop2218 there's also the doctor in Texas that figured out that there was a missing enzyme from the urine of cancer patients he independently synthesized this enzyme and treated people with it with amazing results the pharmaceutical companies and justice system has tried to shut him down for his practices. Mainly my research about cancer and what it thrives on is acidity of the body and changing your pH and making yourself more alkaline has shown to be very effective against disease and sickness I'm not saying it's a cure because I can get in a lot of trouble for that but it can help

[@orangestoneface]

@@porkchop2218 guessing exhaust from diesel ship engines and others cancer causing soot.

[@xtradelite903]

I love the open honor system in the research on proteins. Anyone is allowed to participate, as demonstrated by the apps that have been created for the world to use. I remember when I took a certified nursing assistant course (the lowest level of the nursing field), and when they taught us about the protein shapes I was just so immediately drawn to their aesthetic, structure, and function. It really wasn’t so difficult to learn the basics.

[@oliver.peytrinz6734]

I sometimes worry that protein patents will thwart progress. Hopefully, there will be many competing proteins that can do the same job.

[@palava8500]

I hope they get a patent block

[@scatteredvideos1]

It is definitely something we should be concerned about but in my opinion, a protein should not be able to be patented without MAJOR changes to the genetic code. And even if a sequence is patented people can still make it, they just can't sell it.

[@atti1120]

Depends on how the patent is written, if it is written well a product claim that is specified in a way that encompasses all proteins with that function in x conditions. Often people will make new patents with improvements which will make a license agreement with the original patent. And as to why proteins can be patented, if it's new and non-obvious then it can be patented. You argue why it's non obvious that these changes cause x effect. If it's natural protein you have to be the one discovering it and argue the non-obviousness of exactly that protein having x function etc. That is how it works

[@alpohree]

What could be done is to generate millions and billions of random new protein structures and publish them on an hourly basis, each sequence, each folded structure, so that nobody will think of patenting any kind of newly designed protein, because it may already well have been published and become "state-of-the-art" (which is not patentable unless you can prove an inventive step in addition to the state-of-the-art.

[@bighands69]

@@palava8500 Why? If they spend hundreds of millions of dollars in research and then building a protein why would they not be able to patent it? Would you rather they not build them?

[@joaovitorknoth7418]

Knowing how science organizes itself to solve the world's problems is very interesting and inspires other professionals and scholars in the field to contribute as well. Understanding how the world around us is scientifically important is important for us to be aware of the way things work. Imagine the changes that can happen in the world from the advance of science is wonderfull and motivating for humanity to move on.

[@LardBucket_]

This is very insightful as well as optimistic - I hope to see interest in protein synthesis grow considering its astronomical potential to change our world

[@skydivekrazy76]

Awesome. I'm looking forward to the changes you bring.

[@thankshi2815]

Louix Griego looking forward?! More like looking backwards

[@immortalimmortal5353]

And remember that the ultimate goal is eternal youth and an eternal autonomous capsule house! In which roots and plants get everything, using programmable nature

[@simonloh1855]

Is this the stepping stone to eternal youth and immortality...

[@Boracay98ftw]

@@thankshi2815found the idiot!

[@lindarodgers9713]

This is the future of medicine. Medical advancements & biological science never ceases to amaze me.

[@curiosocuri0so334]

A humanidade está chegando em um novo patamar, e isso me faz muito feliz! Imaginem onde estaremos daqui a 30 anos, o tanto de avanços que já existirão em todas as áreas da humanidade! É lindo!

[@jacqueslaurencevideos4815]

Um projeto como esse, deveria estar disponível em várias linguas

[@juliagiacominibezerra1804]

Wonderful and interesting talk ❤️. Proteins are amazing

[@Melki]

Wow amazing, thank you for sharing this. It's Awesome

[@deanchamberlain1910]

Finally some amazing science on ted again....makes great watching.....especially instead of all the social warrior bull crap...

[@xjzhao2268]

Love this talk!!!

[@shankariab1687]

Sounds great.. how long for the day when we get multiflu vaccine and other benefits?

[@enryu4953]

great speech, so much potential to be drawn from this technology

[@enryu4953]

@@thankshi2815 if its the jews or some kind of external force which wants to keep us down, they should go for it, its more fun this way, bring up da fight worldstaaaaar nd shiet

[@Redbellynelly]

Can't recommend Rosetta@home enough. Such a simple way for people to participate in world-changing tech.

[@glagidse]

Protein folding problem has been solved!

[@rorroartchanel]

AlphaFold ;)

[@Drew_Hurst]

Partially and in theory only

[@MsPaulinha2205]

We live in a world with so many questions with no answers that we must to appreciate and ask for our government to invest in researches. It’s so many diseases, it’s so many people dying without adequate treatment, we deserve a better future to our health!

[@bighands69]

Governments cannot even manage their own finances and here you are demanding that they interfere in the marketplace. The only way government could do what you are asking is to increase taxes which will have a far greater impact on research in that it will decrease the amount of research taking place.

[@pedroatayde1710]

Awesome ! The advance of biology and computing is very important to the future of prevention of diseases. The proteins are essentials to create lifetime vaccines.

[@rahulborah9306]

Awsm..........good...speech....

[@user-hv5nt7zt1l]

Hi, I am a woman who reads book in Canada, this is very interesting topic for all of us.

[@jayk4127]

캐나다의 책읽어주는여자 no reason to doubt that claim. Carry on!

[@NightcorEDM]

@@jayk4127 yeah...

[@orangestoneface]

novels look like books but l dont see them as books....

[@SIXFT9FELLA]

Genius idea!

[@rkm_roopam]

Most awaited 👍

[@BenTajer89]

While I liked the talk, I thought it was a little short and very surface level. I wanted to hear about how they were actually designing proteins. As somebody who works in molecular biology, I get the sense that protein folding is still very much a mystery, and that the flu vaccine stuff is mostly just fusing proteins that already exist in nature (biological "stone age" technology as he called it). The extended alphabet stuff is very cool and I have read the literature, but he didn't go into any of the details here.

[@quantumnumber]

This is a general to talk for all audiences, not a protein design university course.

[@BenTajer89]

@@quantumnumber There are plenty of ted talks at a higher level than this.

[@quantumnumber]

Agreed, just say that is not the intention of the talk. It is intended to reach a broader non-scientific audience.

[@ingeniouswild]

He has other online youtube talks describing this in better detail.

[@yourcommentmightnotworksop9987]

I dont know if people get it but encoding a protein is HUGEee.

[@kaleighmarie4054]

This is how we get the zombies we've been waiting for.

[@prashantpatel8597]

Congratulations to u sir and your team that make protein designing real. I have a query. By Designing protein under your program Rosetta@home, can one claim for intellectual property for it???

[@igora6367]

wow! fantastic!

[@rinku4532]

Someone give this guy a nobel

[@simonloh1855]

Yeah, a Nobel and a knighthood too!

[@bryal7811]

I'd love to see if this type of technology could be paired with algorithm technology that's still in development today. While it's still in the realm of sci-fi right now, I love the idea of a protein that could study virus or bacterial behaviors and evolution. Like David said, it will end up being a lifetime vaccine that self-develops to fight pathogens.

[@fazel_mo]

My legend is here 😍

[@JM-us3fr]

Well now we know how to predict the structure of proteins (using AlphaFold 2). Now we just need to figure out how to construct these things, and these five problems will be within our grasp.

[@naianemeirelesdealmeida4894]

As the data set may be sufficient to advance more about the options in the world, we do not do the work because people have money and they can invest in it, they just do not invest. Nowadays, for example, people who are hungry, but not for lack of food, but people who have money or the big producers of food, it does not matter who is hungry.

[@MrAykut23]

I couldnt help but watch the opening scene of I Am Legend after this

[@lisasievers6999]

Yeah... doctors playing God... and when they’re wrong?? Don’t get me wrong, progress is of utmost importance. It’s when ‘patents’ and Big Corps OWN it!?? 😳

[@Finger85]

This is freaking magic if it's true

[@andrzejkapera1130]

Go ahead !

[@claramascarenhas5371]

The video is really interesting, an important advance, but I think because it's a subject that I don't have such affinity sometimes it was difficult to understand what was being said or even to concentrate.

[@user-br3ux3cq5e]

nice to work in his lab

[@aks2045]

The power of Computational Biology

[@bencrossley647]

Now we just need to resolve P vs NP so we know whether or not there is a way to do these computations in polynomial time.

[@tylerdurden9785]

Nice man.

[@virajbhale3869]

Targeted chemotherapy through protein informatics will revolutionize post surgical cancer treatments. Chemotherapy are so painful, and the patient suffers a lot. If it is targeted, half the pain, twice the gains!

[@Cruel_Loss]

This is the line were science fiction could jump to reality, a new branch of human science has begun

[@ayman-hosny1]

A piece of cake from Baker. I wish everybody get enjoyed with my Arabic subtitles when be approve and published.

[@user-hh2is9kg9j]

شكرا على مساهمتك في نشر المعرفة

[@craigking391]

Moore's Law hasn't held true for years. In the beginning of computer chip technology it was "twice the computing power every 6 months". Now it's about 2 years. I work in semiconductor research.

[@bighands69]

I doubt you work in semiconductor research. Because if you did you would realize that Moore's law has nothing to do with computing power.

[@merveakyel8476]

Please put Turkish subtitles

[@ThatOneScienceGuy]

When I was learning about proteins in biology class I thought “screw nanotechnology, let’s explore what we can do with proteins.” Boom! Didn’t know somebody was onto this!

[@BenTajer89]

I think a lot of people don't realise that biology already is nanotechnology, and it's still better than anything else we can do.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

Biology is, in very basic terms, self-replicating molecules... The holy grail of nanotechnology...

[@anderspihlgren4965]

Proud Folding@Home user here 🙋🏻‍♂️

[@racerromeo]

Interested to learn from you 😊

[@guerrahp5180]

What about the opposite, or side effects of new proteins...while new proteins are inteded for a specific function, can they throw others out of whack?

[@simonloh1855]

This is reminiscent of GMO soybeans versus non-GMO soybeans...

[@user-mj3vr4cd2v]

Prion disease is what happens when a protein is expressed misfolded......its not cool

[@Drew_Hurst]

Prions ~ characterize several fatal and transmissible neurodegenerative diseases in humans and many other animals. - Wikipedia

[@engl517]

I'm on the Top 10

[@sandunthahirushan1254]

🔥

[@ArkDiabLord]

8:18 funny, July 2019 is when the COVID started.

[@williambohorun99]

What does this mean for human performance?

[@tylerdurden9785]

Приятный мужик.

[@iamjp9320]

Hope I am smart enough to join them, but the 4th challenge is quite a problem.

[@bmusician08]

4:55 How is the number of natural proteins counted ( 10^21 stated here!)?

[@nicolasgiaconia8051]

That's actually the number of possible proteins made with 100 aminoacids. 20 possible aminoacids, 100 in a row, therefore 20×20×...×20, 100 times, which is 2¹⁰⁰. There are a lot more possible proteins, actually, since they don't all need to have 100, they can have up to 50 000 if I remember correctly, which would make the number even harder to comprehend. The number of "natural" proteins can't be calculated, but rather they just counted all the proteins we seenature use.

[@chekadsarami4288]

@@nicolasgiaconia8051 Thank you. I read after watching the video and came up with the same answer as yours! Just like music, if we count the number of melodies ( motives) of different lengths ( ignoring rhythms)... but natural melody means sound musical to human ears. Does number of amino acids in proteins have an upper bound ( 50000?)

[@nicolasgiaconia8051]

@@chekadsarami4288 Yes, exactly like music, except there are 20 "notes" instead of the 12 that make up chromatic scales. I just looked it up and the largest known protein is Titin (34 351 aminoacids). When I said 50 000 I was citing an older~ish organic chemistry textbook. As far as I know there isn't any structural limit to protein size, but there is a limit in terms of how big of a protein you could practically store in an organism's genome. I can also imagine some absurd limit, such as reaching a point where the protein is so big that the pressure at its core begins to heat up (kinda like becoming a star) and starts to break bonds and therefore destroy the protein. This obviously isn't a realistic limit :))). Surely there would be no point in making a protein that weighs 0.08 solar masses (smallest theoretical mass for a star to support fusion) and it would take a loooooong time to synthetize it. So basically no, there isn't any limit to protein size, not really.

[@simonloh1855]

@@nicolasgiaconia8051 Twenty-eight (28) is the magic number created by God...others are merely distractions that will open the doomsday door to absolute apocalypse!

[@sunlee5360]

이 그룹이 노벨상 받아야함.

[@rorroartchanel]

Where do I start?

[@simonloh1855]

Already started, you're late!

[@unvergebeneid]

Video starts at 2:24 if you haven't skipped your high-school biology class.

[@aMasterSmoker]

Think about the advancement and achievements that could be accomplished with unlimited access to the patent system

[@vishalmishra3046]

The human genome contains approximately 3 billion of [ATCG] base pairs, which reside in the 23 pairs of chromosomes within the nucleus of all our cells. Each chromosome contains hundreds to thousands of genes, which carry the instructions for making proteins. Each of the estimated 30,000 genes in the human genome makes an average of three proteins.

[@darrelgaines777]

The problem with short term changes are the unforeseen long range consequences. Growth harmonies given to livestock, chickens, etc., have lowered the age of puberty in humankind and this is a readily confirmable statistic. While genetic manipulation of food stock has not had time for truly long term studies to be preformed, even the short term research indicates disturbing anomalies which could become troubling to future generations. Unfortunately, quick profit dictates immediate procedure and questions of future consequence are left for future generations to worry about. So, alter DNA to prevent lung disease, and discover over time that it has lowered human fertility, or intelligence, or immuno response, or any number of other possible disastrous consequence. I do not say that such research is bad, only that we need to better know and understand what we tinker with, i.e. DNA and genetics, before we attempt to "fix" it. We have only recently come to reasonably map the human genome and we have no idea of the intricacies of their interactions. If you're not sure how it actually works, how can you change some portion of it with anything like reasonable assurance over long term results?

[@BiancaAguglia]

"I do not say that such research is bad, only that we need to better know and understand what we tinker with before we attempt to 'fix' it." Well said. 😊 We can't avoid all risks when tackling the unknown and trying to solve new challenges. But we can do our best to minimize risk and to make sure we're completely open about it. That's why teams need to have a good balance of dreamers with heads are up in the clouds, busily working on wonderful opportunities, and of cautious researches with feet firmly planted on the ground, making sure we're not rushing off dangerous cliffs. 😊 I don't know much about David Baker but he made a good first impression. Plus, I liked seeing that the Rosetta modeling software is available with free licenses. It's an encouraging sign.

[@shelbytomy07]

3 clicks of my mouse ago I was watching Rick and Morty

[@raoulduke7668]

still waiting for the next season :(

[@truthseeking1026]

This Ted Talks speaker that is discussing "designing Folding Proteins" is from at least three more iterations off the central finite curve from our location. Why would he think we would follow his biotech silliness?

[@hydernoori146]

@@raoulduke7668 u beat me to it :) 👍

[@waindayoungthain2147]

What's the purpose of the new Proteins? Please note that. Thank you 🙇.

[@palava8500]

8:47

[@lisasievers6999]

I respect this mans passion. However, he had me at ‘smart therapeutics’ being able to ‘control’ some a body. All good except when in whose hands? Who are the watchdogs? Where is the transparency?

[@simonloh1855]

Big Pharma will buy him out for sure...it's just a matter of time folks!

[@ChillerDragon]

Nice that he advertised the 2 projects where people can help at the end. But both foldit and rosetta@home had horrible websites that made me feel uncomfortable. Also I didn't find any source code to the tools in 10 minutes searching. Cool idea but pointless how it is currently implemented. If there was a nice and legit link to source code and clean build intructions and a more motivating design i would probably run some of the software but not like this.

[@1986verity]

It is solved guys.. 2020's brighter side

[@simonloh1855]

SOLVED...for better or for worse?

[@dogwoofwoof8154]

@@simonloh1855 both

[@dameonxsc]

Hello everyone

[@touhidfarhan8873]

♥♥

[@zealot1023]

Quantum Computing showing her hidden cards...

[@Anon-xd3cf]

Who's here after that guy wrote a quantum algorithm for protein folding simulation? I want a living ship please.

[@isaacandrewdixon]

"Yoomans"

[@ricdodo]

Why dont sub ita?

[@simonloh1855]

Is this the stepping stone to eternal youth and immortality...

[@bighands69]

Getting good health would be the first step especially for the elderly. Getting everybody to live into old age without most of the sickness would be the first thing that people want to achieve.

[@Quazgaa]

what could go wrong

[@arturfrenger]

Imagine electricity conducting spider web (if that's a protein)

[@iluan_]

It is made mostly of protein. It includes some other stuff to enhance its properties. However, the process of adding those extra materials to the web is done by a special kind of proteins called enzymes. Who knows, maybe it's possible to make enzymes that add conductive properties to a normal web.

[@normanbeker]

Profesor Hulk?!

[@ayman-hosny1]

I have excited by this scientist -- speaking understood language and wearing simple clothes.

[@divyamurugesan5557]

My childhood dream was to become a Scientist. But as I grow my dream grew differently. 😋

[@SalTarvitz]

Drug dealer?

[@hadwayx]

Just imagine.. our lifes will be completely different in the future. I hope that new medicine will decide all diseases and let people live cool.

[@susanfrary7424]

Half of me= Wow! Half of me= Yikes...

[@user-bk5sr9wc9o]

AI will help us. They are so reliable and will find new proteins with ease.

[@user-ve9xl9uo2c]

and send us to our graves

[@user-bk5sr9wc9o]

That’s right. People are more dangerous than them.

[@midlandernc7403]

You could also create new prions that could wipe out mankind or even all life on Earth. How would you ever know. Not enough is know about what can go wrong. "Nature will find a way". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion

[@orangestoneface]

great minds think alike, but l did not think of prions but some harmful proteins

[@bighands69]

@@orangestoneface People are going to work on this even if we do not like it. There are 7.5 billion people on earth and out of that some will do bad things. It is better to have research out in the light of day doing the hard things so that we call all at least understand what is going on.

[@bmusician08]

6:40 so is computational protein design used to make vaccine for COVID-19? We hope it has not created it!

[@simonloh1855]

Is the Pfizer vaccine created using the same protein folding methodology,,,

[@rhinhartl5458]

this is the aliens

[@engl517]

Here I'm

[@daraneemahaisavariya]

Why did just show Arabic language on subtitle, quite disturbing

[@SnoopingDope]

pre alphafold era. looks so old

[@Ga7atTown]

possible structures of a protein doesn't necessarily mean they are functional ...

[@osse1n]

The question is: *Will people still exploit animals?*

[@imsorry8878]

all day everyday for the rest of ur life

[@paramitamajumdar9996]

First