GoKawiilThe tool can add, remove or swap protein subunits using similar steps to natural evolution. Plus, spin qubits are back in the quantum race and the drugs that could prevent long COVID.
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The company HRL Laboratories in Malibu, California, has created a quantum computer that reduces the wiring to its 18 spin qubits to improve performance.Credit: HRL Laboratories
Four independent research teams have reported big advances in the design of quantum devices that rely on ‘spin qubits’ to encode information. Spin qubits are made by carving precise patterns into semiconductor wafers, forming wells that can hold a single electron. In the race to create a useful quantum computer, this design had previously not been considered a front-runner, because systems that used spin qubits were small and had high error rates. The new systems range from 5 to 18 qubits, and one has slashed the error rate to less than 0.01%.
Nature | 6 min read
Reference: Nature paper 1 & paper 2 and arXiv preprint 1 & preprint 2 (not peer reviewed)
An artificial-intelligence tool dubbed ‘Raygun’ can miniaturize or supersize a natural protein without disrupting the protein’s shape or ability to function. Raygun can modify existing proteins, using some of the same steps as natural evolution: adding or deleting single protein subunits or substituting one protein subunit for another. Raygun can make “exactly what researchers want — not a completely new protein, but a better, smaller, larger or more adaptable version of one they already trust,” says computational biologist Fajie Yuan.
Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Nature paper
The results of rigorous clinical trials suggest that two drugs can prevent an infection with COVID-19 from developing into long COVID, a chronic condition characterized by fatigue and cognitive impairment. The first trial reported that paxlovid, an antiviral COVID-19 treatment, reduced the risk of long COVID developing after three months by 40%. Another reports that the diabetes drug metformin reduces the risk of long COVID at six months after infection by around half. The trial results have divided physicians — some think the results are promising enough to start prescribing the drugs for this purpose; others disagree.
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