Each year, snake bites kill upwards of 100,000 people and permanently disable hundreds of thousands more, according to estimates from the World Health Organization. Promising new science, enabled by state-of-the-art technology, could help quell the threat.

Researchers from UW Medicine and the Technical University of Denmark have developed computationally designed proteins to neutralize toxins in elapid snake venom. These proteins target three-finger toxins.

Novel proteins have been designed to neutralise some of the deadliest molecules in snake venom. The proteins, which were developed with the aid of deep learning, are more stable and easily produced than natural antibodies, and could potentially save many lives in the field.

A study by this year's Nobel Laureate in Chemistry reveals a possible game-changer in snakebite treatment. Researchers have created new proteins that neutralize lethal toxins found in snake venom, potentially offering a safer and more effective alternative to traditional antivenoms.

The AI-designed proteins could form the basis of a new generation of therapies for snakebites — which kill an estimated 100,000 people each year and are still treated much as they were a century ago.

The AI-designed proteins neutralized lethal 3FTx toxins found in snake venom, which are often the reason that traditional antivenoms fail.

It has been a few years since AI began successfully tackling the challenge of predicting the three-dimensional structure of proteins, complex molecules that are essential for all life. Next-generation tools are now available,