Journal post from David Baker

We have learned to design a new class of proteins which could be useful both as drugs and in sensors. As I've explained before, most drugs are small molecules with fewer than 50 atoms. There are many drugs, such as blood thinning agents, which are very dangerous if given in too large doses. We have succeeded in designing proteins which bind to specific small molecules very tightly. These proteins could be used as antidotes in case of overdose with the target small molecule-for example we've designed a protein which could be useful to treat toxicity due to overdose of the drug digoxin used to treat heart disease. With collaborators, we are working to use these designed proteins to detect levels of the target small molecules in the blood or in the environment.