 |
|
FEATURE STORIES |
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new statistical tool that they have used to predict protein function. Not only could it help with the difficult job of altering proteins in practically useful ways, but it also works by methods that are fully interpretable — an advantage over the conventional artificial intelligence (AI) that has aided with protein engineering in the past. The new tool, called LANTERN, could prove useful in work ranging from producing biofuels, improving crops, and developing new disease treatments. Proteins, as building blocks of biology, are a key element in all these tasks. But while it is comparatively easy to make changes to the strand of DNA that serves as the blueprint for a given protein, it remains challenging to determine which specific base pairs — rungs on the DNA ladder — are the keys to producing a desired effect. Finding these keys has been the purview of AI built of deep neural networks (DNNs), which, though effective, are notoriously opaque to human understanding. Described in a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, LANTERN shows the ability to predict the genetic edits needed to create useful differences in three different proteins. One is the spike-shaped protein from the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19; understanding how changes in the DNA can alter this spike protein might help epidemiologists predict the future of the pandemic.
A recent update to a publicly downloadable database maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will make it easier to sift through computers, cellphones, and other electronic equipment seized in police raids, potentially helping law enforcement catch sexual predators and other criminals. The database, called the National Software Reference Library (NSRL), plays a frequent role in criminal investigations involving electronic files, which can be evidence of wrongdoing. In the first major update to the NSRL in two decades, NIST has increased the number and type of records in the database to reflect the widening variety of software files that law enforcement might encounter on a device. The agency has also changed the format of the records to make the NSRL more searchable. “There are hardly any major crimes that don’t have connections to digital technology, because criminals use cellphones,” said Doug White, a NIST computer scientist who helps maintain the NSRL. “Only some of the data on a phone or other device might be relevant to an investigation, though. The update should make it easier for police to separate the wheat from the chaff.”
|
