Discovery amidst Artificial Intelligence: Protein–Receptor Interactions

Technologies that rely on <i>artificial intelligence</i> are of increasing prominence in protein science. To a casual observer it may appear that human inputs are of diminishing importance in research. This <i>Perspective</i> emphasizes the essential contributions of human interactions and chance encounters to the discovery process. The topic is synthetic receptors for proteins. I summarize how a chance observation of N-terminal complexation led to multiple (unpredictable) protein-receptor cocrystal structures with diverse potential applications.