Avimer Bio, a California-based biotechnology company, in collaboration with structural biologists at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), announced on Thursday a new publication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) describing advances in building self-assembling protein cages with atomic precision.

Avimer Bio said the study addresses the challenge of creating predictable protein architectures when building blocks bend during assembly. The team developed algorithms that forecast how alpha-helical protein segments flex, enabling designers to use natural molecular flexibility. This produced cubic protein cages formed from four trimeric protein blocks, twelve subunits in total, with molecular masses above 600 kilodaltons and stability in solution.

High-resolution cryo-electron microscopy at CNIO confirmed that the physical structures matched computational models, with resolutions of 3.0 to 3.9 angstroms and backbone deviations as low as 2 angstroms. The data validated the predicted helix-bending patterns.

The designed cages can present multiple therapeutic proteins in controlled arrangements to cluster cell receptors, supporting applications in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis, and in oncology where receptor grouping can stimulate immune responses against tumours.

The platform relies on minimal changes to natural protein sequences and uses a single type of protein subunit per cage, simplifying production and supporting evaluation of immune response.