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research article

One-shot Design of Functional Protein Binders with Bindcraft

Pacesa, Martin  
•
Nickel, Lennart  
•
Schellhaas, Christian  
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August 27, 2025
Nature

Protein-protein interactions are at the core of all key biological processes. However, the complexity of the structural features that determine protein-protein interactions makes their design challenging. Here we present BindCraft, an open-source and automated pipeline for de novo protein binder design with experimental success rates of 10-100%. BindCraft leverages the weights of AlphaFold2 (ref. 1) to generate binders with nanomolar affinity without the need for high-throughput screening or experimental optimization, even in the absence of known binding sites. We successfully designed binders against a diverse set of challenging targets, including cell-surface receptors, common allergens, de novo designed proteins and multi-domain nucleases, such as CRISPR-Cas9. We showcase the functional and therapeutic potential of designed binders by reducing IgE binding to birch allergen in patient-derived samples, modulating Cas9 gene editing activity and reducing the cytotoxicity of a foodborne bacterial enterotoxin. Last, we use cell-surface-receptor-specific binders to redirect adeno-associated virus capsids for targeted gene delivery. This work represents a significant advancement towards a 'one design-one binder' approach in computational design, with immense potential in therapeutics, diagnostics and biotechnology.

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Name

10.1038_s41586-025-09429-6.pdf

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Main Document

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Published version

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openaccess

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CC BY-NC-ND

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43.76 MB

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Adobe PDF

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f8c3d138d6074fa9335cf2bfab5f5b82

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