Team develops synthetic enzyme for people with Celiac disease

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Team develops synthetic enzyme for people with Celiac disease

Hope is that protein-design software will lead to pill that helps digest gluten

A team at the University of Washington is developing an enzyme aimed at enabling people with Celiac disease to safely eat foods with gluten.

Team lead Ingrid Swanson Pultz, of the Institute for Protein Design, has used software to understand the amino acid sequence that will render the synthetic molecule that can do what the digestive enzymes can’t — break down the gluten in the stomach before it gets to the intestine.