Name: The secret language of cells — and how to "speak" it
Uploaded: 2025-11-11T15:39:46Z
Duration: 3 min 39 s
Description: What if medicines could "speak" directly to your cells? Protein designer and TED Fellow Chris Bahl introduces a new generation of miniproteins: AI-designed medicines that can deliver detailed instructions to fix what's making you sick. He shares how this breakthrough could potentially unlock safer, more effective treatments for some of humanity's most challenging diseases.

Chris Bahl: The secret language of cells — and how to "speak" it

The secret language of cells — and how to "speak" it

What if medicines could "speak" directly to your cells? Protein designer and TED Fellow Chris Bahl introduces a new generation of miniproteins: AI-designed medicines that can deliver detailed instructions to fix what's making you sick. He shares how this breakthrough could potentially unlock safer, more effective treatments for some of humanity's most challenging diseases.

Medicines today usually target just one protein, missing the complex way cells truly communicate. A new class of AI-designed miniproteins, only 40 to 60 amino acids long, can deliver precise instructions to cells, acting more like fluent sentences than single words. Early experiments showed these molecules treating arthritis, controlling diabetes, and directing immune cells to fight cancer in mice. This technology promises safer, smarter therapies and a radically new approach to treating disease.

AI-Designed Miniproteins Unlock a New Cellular Conversation

Most modern medicines act like speaking a single word to the body, targeting just one protein. AI-crafted miniproteins, only 40 to 60 amino acids long, allow researchers to deliver detailed instructions and communicate with cells in complex ways. In mice, these tiny proteins have already treated arthritis, diabetes, and leukemia by guiding immune cells to act with precision. This new approach could open the door to safer, more effective treatments for diseases once thought untouchable.

AI-Designed Miniproteins Unlock Precision Medicine for Cells

Modern medicines often work like knowing only a single word in the complex language of our cells. A new class of AI-designed miniproteins, built from the body's natural amino acid alphabet, promises more precise and powerful treatments. In lab and animal tests, these tiny proteins have already reversed arthritis, controlled diabetes, and targeted cancer in mice. The first clinical trials aim to help people with lung cancer as early as 2028.