Baker lab designs antibodies from scratch with atomic accuracy using RFdiffusion
In Nature (Nov 2025) the Baker lab reported de novo design of VHH nanobodies, scFvs and full antibodies against chosen epitopes. Cryo-EM confirmed atomically accurate binding poses and CDR loops for influenza haemagglutinin and C. difficile toxin B. Chai Discovery's Chai-2 separately reported ~16% hit rates for zero-shot antibody design.
Key facts
- Targets included influenza HA and C. difficile toxin TcdB; cryo-EM matched designs at atomic level
- Chai-2 (bioRxiv, Jul 2025): ~16% de novo antibody hit rate; binders for ~50% of 52 targets with ≤20 designs each (preprint)
Science result
- Field
- biology / antibody engineering
- Problem
- Designing antibodies to a chosen epitope computationally, without immunisation or library screening
- Result
- Epitope-specific antibodies designed de novo, with cryo-EM-validated atomic accuracy.
- AI system
- RFdiffusion (antibody-tuned), Chai-2
- Human role
- Human-led with AI tools
- Verification
- Peer-reviewed in Nature (Baker); preprint (Chai-2); lab-validated
- Status
- confirmed
What happened
After years of designing small binders, AI protein design reached antibodies, the most important class of biologic drugs.
Why it matters
Computational antibody design could replace months of animal immunisation and library screening in drug discovery.
Changelog
- 2026-09-29: created
Related events
- RFdiffusion: diffusion models design new proteins that work in the lab ★★★★
- Isomorphic Labs unveils IsoDDE drug-discovery engine, hailed as 'an AlphaFold 4' — but proprietary ★★★
- Computationally designed broad coronavirus vaccine is safe and immunogenic in first human trial ★★★
Sources (3)
- paperAtomically accurate de novo design of antibodies with RFdiffusion (Nature)
- pressGeekWire: Nobel winner's lab notches AI-designed antibodies that hit their targets
- paperChai-2 zero-shot antibody design (bioRxiv)
id: 2025-11-05-ai-designed-antibodies-rfdiffusion · updated 2026-09-29 · open in the interactive timeline