https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/saptadip-saha/week-01-hw-project-ideas/index.htmlGenerative AI for Designing Programmable Bacteriophages Project summary My central question is whether generative biological language models can design new receptor-binding proteins (RBPs) that reprogram the host specificity of an existing bacteriophage. A bacteriophage, or phage, is a virus that infects bacteria. And, as mentioned, the term receptor-binding protein (RBP) is not unique to phages; it covers any protein that mediates attachment to a target receptor, including attachment proteins on other viruses. In a phage, the RBP is the part that helps determine which bacterium it recognizes. We treat the phage as a prototype platform: keep its replication machinery mostly fixed, and use it as the living test system that reveals whether a generative model’s custom-designed RBP actually functions, in a real bacterium recognizing a real target, rather than only on paper.Hugoen