Proteins are remarkable nano-machines that carry out the myriad functions required for life to exist. Engineering proteins to have novel functions has a vast range of applications, ranging from medical developments such as combating anti-microbial resistance, to climate friendly industrial manufacturing. In my DPhil, I am working to develop a machine learning pipeline to steer directed evolution: a method for utilising the power of natural evolution to produce proteins with desirable capabilities that were not required to survive in nature. These experiments will be performed in the lab, in a massively high throughput screening platform currently being developed by the Engineered Biotechnology Research Group at Oxford.