Frances Arnold
@francesarnold
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Innovation by evolution, Linus Pauling Professor at Caltech, Nobel Prize in Chemistry (I am an engineer of the biological world)
Caltech
Joined June 2010
My ACS Priestley Medal address can be found here. Many stories not told in science talks...
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"Science provides creative new solutions." Frances Arnold gave us her takeaways from today's Nobel Week Dialogue: Health For All. If you missed the live event, you can watch it here: https://t.co/oPpbBvdJIn
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This was fun to do. Almost as much fun as directing evolution!
Frances Arnold (@francesarnold) pioneered the process of directed evolution — mimicking natural selection to create new enzymes that have changed everything from agriculture to laundry. https://t.co/HfYoahWLub
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Congratulations Soumitra @athavale_s !! Love #enzymes and how they are so versatile, with the right insights of course.
Thrilled to share the first paper from our group at UCLA, online today in Science: “Biocatalytic, Asymmetric Radical Hydrogenation of Unactivated Alkenes” @uclachem @ScienceMagazine
https://t.co/YCtGp91kd2
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The posting is unfortunately not super clear on this, but please apply if you want to do BioML research, especially around machine learning for molecular biology and bioengineering! I get sad if there are no applicants with this profile in the pool!
The Microsoft Research Undergraduate Internship Program offers 12-week internships in our Redmond, NYC, or New England labs for rising juniors and seniors who are passionate about technology. Apply by October 6: https://t.co/dGgXydhIQ3
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Exciting work!
We are excited to share our recent work on a biocatalytic atroposelective platform enabled by engineered desaturases: https://t.co/81qxCaqMIa MD-guided directed evolution played a key role in this effort. Congratulations to the whole team—more to come soon!
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Speaking under the gaze of the emperor. Haven't done that before...lovely to be in #Vienna.
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Very pleased to see our AI model GenSLM designing novel and versatile enzymes in a challenging setting in @francesarnold lab. https://t.co/0zjpIg716I Back in 2022, we built the world's first genome-scale language model (GenSLM) trained on all known bacterial and viral genomes
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In this perspective, we discuss a vision for AI-driven #enzyme discovery to unveil a world of enzymes that transcends biological evolution and perhaps offers a route to genetically encoding almost any chemistry. https://t.co/rfGwDHHJdC
cell.com
Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing how we engineer enzymes, enabling the creation of biocatalysts beyond those shaped by evolution. In this perspective, we discuss a vision for how artificial...
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Sequence-Based Generative AI-Guided Design of Versatile Tryptophan Synthases 1. A groundbreaking study leverages GenSLM, a protein language model, to design novel tryptophan synthase β-subunits (TrpBs) with enhanced activity and substrate promiscuity. This approach bypasses
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A compelling review of how ML/AI could help in the quest to find an enzyme for every reaction. @jsunn_y @francescazfl @Yueming_Long_ @francesarnold
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Private tour of the Louvre is a special treat. They were vacuuming the Sphinx.
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I think we will soon have AI tools to genetically encode--i.e., make #enzymes for--many useful chemical transformations. On our way to getting biology to do all the chemistry we love (and think only humans can do). #directedevolution #MLDE #proteindesign
Check out our new perspective "Illuminating the universe of enzyme catalysis in the era of artificial intelligence" now out in @CellSystemsCP ! We discuss a vision and path forward for genetically encoding almost all chemistry, powered by new AI tools: https://t.co/Tc7zQ6TExm
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Check out our new perspective "Illuminating the universe of enzyme catalysis in the era of artificial intelligence" now out in @CellSystemsCP ! We discuss a vision and path forward for genetically encoding almost all chemistry, powered by new AI tools: https://t.co/Tc7zQ6TExm
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Another exciting milestone in biocatalysis with nonheme enzymes! We have developed the first enzymatic system for copper-catalyzed radical C(sp³)–N coupling: https://t.co/J6WP0ysXCJ, which also represents the first demonstration of employing pterin-dependent nonheme enzymes in
science.org
Copper-catalyzed radical C(sp3)‒N coupling has become a major focus in synthetic catalysis over the past decade. However, achieving this reaction manifold by using enzymes has remained elusive. In...
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More on copper catalysis in nonheme enzymes: we have engineered hydroxymandelate synthase to catalyze alkene oxytrifluoromethylation, generating a broad range of chiral trifluoromethyl-containing β-, γ-, and δ-lactones with high enantioselectivity ( https://t.co/mz5yf9FlwR). This
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Our new company, K2 Therapeutics, is off to the races to develop antibody drugs that target multipass membrane proteins. We are hiring so check us out!
k2-tx.com
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Congrats to our former postdoc Jian Li on this elegant solution to epoxidizing the internal double bond of farnesol (with enzyme of course!). The shortest synthesis of subglutinol-type meroterpenoids to date.
science.org
Efficient asymmetric epoxidation reactions have been developed for both the head end and tail end double bonds of farnesol, greatly facilitating the synthesis of terpenoid natural products. However,...
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Fantastic to meet up with so many former #Arnoldgroup members at the 2025 #ProteinEngineering Gordon conference at Bryant University. #GRC meetings are so great! So is protein engineering.
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I was very excited that our AI Institute for Molecule Synthesis (MMLI) got renewed for another 5 years. See: NSF announces $100 million investment in National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes awards to secure American leadership in AI
nsf.gov
The investment will accelerate open innovation, empower an AI-ready workforce and strengthen U.S. global competitiveness...
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