arXiv Machine Learning
2d ago

Inference-Time Steering Across Scaffolds and Epitopes for Sample-Efficient De Novo Nanobody Design

The paper introduces dynamic inference-time steering methods for de novo nanobody design, addressing the inefficiency of fixed-condition generative models. Two new budget allocation strategies are proposed: a joint Global Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) approach that steers and allocates compute across multiple scaffold and epitope configurations simultaneously, and a decoupled Batched Successive Elimination (BaSE) method that adapts resource allocation during inference. Experiments show that these dynamic allocators boost the yield of designable candidates per GPU-hour by nearly fivefold while maintaining diversity across therapeutic targets and generative settings.

By Mason Minot, Simon Friedensohn, C\'edric R. Weber