Researchers from Zhejiang University and HKUST (Guangzhou) have introduced ProtET, an innovative AI-powered multi-modal protein editing model published in Health Data Science. ProtET leverages advanced transformer-structured encoders and a hierarchical training paradigm to align protein sequences with natural language instructions, enabling precise and controllable protein editing.

The model was trained on over 67 million protein-biotext pairs from Swiss-Prot and TrEMBL databases and demonstrated significant improvements across key benchmarks, including 16.9% enhanced protein stability, optimized enzyme catalytic activity, and improved antibody-antigen binding affinity. ProtET’s zero-shot capabilities successfully designed SARS-CoV antibodies with stable 3D structures, highlighting its real-world biomedical applications.

This research represents a major advancement in AI-driven protein engineering, offering a scalable and interactive tool for scientific discovery, synthetic biology, and therapeutic development.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have achieved a major breakthrough in drug delivery: they have successfully transported lipid nanoparticles encapsulating messenger RNA (mRNA) to the immune system of the small and large intestines — bypassing the liver upon systemic administration. By simply altering the composition of the nanoparticles, the researchers demonstrated that mRNA-based drugs can be directed straight to target cells, avoiding the liver.

In a study on public psychology with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from Osaka University found no significant differences among regions of Japan regarding either risk perception or infection-prevention behaviors during the “state of emergency,” suggesting spillover effects between targeted and non-targeted regions. However, risk perception diminished after restrictions were lifted, and both risk perception and hygienic behaviors saw further reductions after the downgrading of the legal status of COVID-19 to that of a common seasonal flu.

Kyushu University economists have published new data on the economic, social, and environmental impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Japan's inbound tourism industry for the year 2020. The results showed a pandemic-induced loss of 33 million tourists, resulting in 3.44 trillion yen of value-added loses, and a decline in employment for 868,976 people. The data also revealed environmental benefits, with an emission reduction of 11.6 megatons of CO₂.