Thanks to everyone who helped get a lot of great science done in 2025! We’re looking forward to a great 2026 with you!
First, the good stuff!
Folding@home is continuing to provide insight into diseases from cancer to Ebola infections that point the way to new therapeutics.
For example, Qiu and co-authors used Folding@home simulations to identify new ways of drugging a protein called KRas that is one of the most prominent players in cancer. They found stable conformations of Kras adjacent to another rprotein that could be stabilized with a drug called a PROTAC that triggers degradation of a target protein (in this case Kras). Building on this insight could be really valuable for combating a broad range of cancers.
Bhattacharjee and co-workers also made progress on BRCA1, one of the most important players in breast cancer. They explained how mutations cause the protein to dysfunction and explained how one could use this insight to guide the design of new drugs to counteract the deleterious mutations. This has spurred new work on using protein design to achieve these ends.
All the data that Folding@home has generated has also been enabling advances in artificial intelligence (AI). For example, a team at Microsoft used Folding@home data to train a generative model that can mimic simulations with a fraction of the computational cost. This tool is helping accelerate research with Folding@home and for many othe research projects.
In the new year, I’m particularly excited to take advantage of recent advances in protein design in conjunction with our insights into protein dynamics. For example, we’re making rapid progress in using protein design to stabilize specific structures of a target protein. These tools are proving useful for everything from targeting cryptic pockets in Ebola proteins to prevent infections from causing death to stabilizing functional conformations of BRCA1 to reduce cancer risk.
Unfortunately, its also been a chaotic year due to the rapidly changing policies at the US federal government. We’ve all had to scramble as the government has cut some grants and oscillated between threatening to cut others and giving them the all clear. My apologies that I’ve let this distract me over the past few months and haven’t kept up with making posts to update you on all the good work that’s happening.
Fortunately, there’s lots of good science in the works and many sources of uncertainty are quieting down, or at least we’re adjusting to the new normal.
Thanks again!