At a glance:

• In a marked advance over current AI models, the new approach captures how proteins act not in isolation but in their cellular and tissue environments.
• The model illuminates how surrounding cells and tissues influence protein behaviors involved in sustaining health and fueling disease.
• The tool can help researchers identify drug targets for a range of conditions.

A fish on land still waves its fins, but the results are markedly different when that fish is in water. Attributed to renowned computer scientist Alan Kay, the analogy is used to illustrate the power of context in illuminating questions under investigation.

In a first for the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a tool called PINNACLE embodies Kay’s insight when it comes to understanding the behavior of proteins in their proper context as determined by the tissues and cells in which these proteins act and with which they interact. Notably, PINNACLE overcomes some of the limitations of current AI models, which tend to analyze how proteins function and malfunction but do so in isolation, one cell and tissue type at a time.

The development of the new AI model, described in Nature Methods, was led by researchers at Harvard Medical School.

“The natural world is interconnected, and PINNACLE helps identify these linkages, which we can use to gain more detailed knowledge about proteins and safer, more effective medications,” said study senior author Marinka Zitnik, assistant professor of biomedical informatics in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS. “It overcomes the limitations of current, context-free models and suggests the future direction for enhancing analyses of protein interactions.”

This advance, the researchers note, could propel current understanding of the role of proteins in health and disease and illuminate new drug targets for designing more precise, better tailored therapies.

PINNACLE is freely available to scientists everywhere.

Read full article in HMS News