Chinese Scientists Develop ContactSeek AI Framework Based on AlphaFold3 Contact Probability: A New Precision Paradigm for Gene Editing Tool Design Published in Nature

Researchers at Peking University and East China Normal University created ContactSeek, an AI framework built on AlphaFold3 contact probabilities.

The tool identifies amino acids that influence base-editor specificity and helped engineer Cas9 variants with better on-target editing.

The new variants also reduced off-target DNA editing, including in adenine base editors.

Published in Nature, the work suggests AI protein models can make genome-editor design safer and more precise.