The German Research Foundation (DFG) is establishing eight new Priority Programs (SPP) from 2026. One of these will be implemented at ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig under the coordination of Humboldt Professor Dr. Jens Meiler from the Institute of Drug Discovery and is entitled “Artificial Intelligence for the Design of Functional Proteins”.

The rapid advances in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) have revolutionized protein research and opened up new possibilities in protein structure prediction and design. “While the prediction of protein structures is now possible with high accuracy, the design of new proteins with customized functions remains a complex challenge. The aim of the new priority program is to overcome these hurdles. In particular, new AI methods are to be developed that take into account the chemical and biophysical properties of polypeptide chains in order to design functional proteins,” says Humboldt Professor Meiler, Principal Investigator of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig and Head of the Institute for Drug Development at the Faculty of Medicine.

The eight priority programs, which were selected from 53 submitted initiatives, will receive a total of around 55 million euros from the DFG for an initial period of three years. In the coming months, the DFG will be advertising the priority programs in order to invite interested scientists to participate in the networks. The Priority Programs will be funded for a total of six years.

Based on the press release from 02.04.2025 by Anne Grimm.