Deep Learning Method Developed to Aid Protein Docking, Speed Drug Research

Researchers at Purdue University have developed a new deep learning algorithm, called DOVE, that can improve modelling of proteins and help create new drugs. The human body contains over 20,000 different types of proteins, which interact with each other to enable life as we know it. Currently, protein docking models have been developed to estimate how two proteins will interact, yet it is challenging to score whether or not the predicted docking estimate is correct. The Purdue researchers developed a new computational method to address this challenge. DOVE, short for Docking decoy selection with Voxel-based deep neural nEtwork, first scans protein-protein interfaces of a proposed protein docking configuration using a 3D voxel, while considering the atomic interactions and energetic contributions.