Research programme
The Protein Developer
In development
A platform for computational protein development, built upon the Model Context Protocol, by which a reasoning model is given the working instruments of the field. It is under construction, and this page reports it at an early stage.
What is being built
The programme is building a platform on which a reasoning model does not merely discuss the development of proteins but takes part in it, by calling upon the computational instruments of the field as its reasoning requires. The platform is constructed around a server of the Model Context Protocol, and is being developed with Claude on a separate Linux workstation.
The Model Context Protocol
The Model Context Protocol, commonly MCP, is an open standard for connecting a language model to tools and to sources of data. A server offers a set of tools, each with a stated purpose and a defined form of input; the model, in the course of its reasoning, chooses a tool, supplies the input, and receives the result. The protocol thus separates two things that are easily confused: the judgement of what to do next, which belongs to the model, and the doing of it, which belongs to an instrument that can be tested on its own account.
That separation is the reason for the choice. A calculation performed by a dedicated instrument can be repeated and checked; a calculation merely asserted by a model cannot.
The present stage
The platform is in development. No results are claimed. The particulars of its instruments, the tests to which it has been put and its first findings will be entered on this page as the work matures, and not before.
From the Press
The Press has published treatises upon the ground this programme occupies.