A better understanding of protein self-assembly could help scientists design important products for medical and industrial uses, such as artificial human tissue for wounds. Sometimes, proteins self-assemble when something goes wrong, forming deadly biological structures associated with diseases including Alzheimer's and sickle cell.

In the experiment, six protein scientists were given a list of proteins and asked to predict which ones were likely to self-assemble. The predictions were compared with those made by the computer program. The human experts predicted that 11 proteins would self-assemble. The computer program predicted nine would.

Because six of the proteins self-assembled, the computer program had a higher guessing percentage (six out of nine versus six out of 11). The humans favored some amino acids over others, which led them to a few incorrect choices.

The AI correctly pointed to some proteins with qualities that didn't make them obvious choices for self-assembly, which opens the door for further exploration and demonstrates the power of AI in predicting protein design.

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