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The constraint in de novo viral genome design has always been functional viability.
Genome language models can generate plausible nucleotide sequences, but whether those sequences encode a virus capable of infecting a host cell and replicating inside it remained untested.
A Stanford-led team has now closed that gap, reporting in Science that a generative AI model designed bacteriophages from scratch, producing organisms with no natural precedent that can infect and kill Escherichia coli.
What the model did and why it matters Bacteriophages, or phages, are the natural predators of bacteria. Using them therapeutically against bacterial infections is an established clinical strategy.
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