Protein folding

Leash Biosciences Announces $9.3 Million Seed Financing to Pioneer AI-Driven Medicinal Chemistry

Retrieved on:

Friday, April 5, 2024

Drug design, Biotechnology, Drug discovery, Artificial intelligence, Stripe, Myriad Genetics, Protein folding, Biology, Data collection, Chemistry, Therapy, Machine learning, Data, Leash, Collection

SALT LAKE CITY, April 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leash Biosciences, an artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)-native biotechnology company unleashing machine learning to solve medicinal chemistry, today announced the completion of a $9.3 million seed financing round to advance its mission of revolutionizing medicinal chemistry through modern computational methods and massive biological data collection. The oversubscribed round was led by Springtide Ventures with participation from MetaPlanet, Top Harvest Capital, Mitsui Global Investment, MFV Partners, Recursion CEO and co-founder Chris Gibson, and Recursion co-founder Blake Borgeson.

Key Points:

SALT LAKE CITY, April 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leash Biosciences, an artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)-native biotechnology company unleashing machine learning to solve medicinal chemistry, today announced the completion of a $9.3 million seed financing round to advance its mission of revolutionizing medicinal chemistry through modern computational methods and massive biological data collection.
To achieve this, Leash is producing bespoke, expansive datasets of protein targets binding to chemicals.
We believe a similar strategy will revolutionize how we approach medicinal chemistry," said Ian Quigley, CEO of Leash Biosciences.
"Leash's platform stands apart with its combined excellence in machine learning, experimental biology, and medicinal chemistry," said Claire Smith, Lead Investor at Springtide Ventures.

NVIDIA Healthcare Launches Generative AI Microservices to Advance Drug Discovery, MedTech and Digital Health

Retrieved on:

Monday, March 18, 2024

The microservices, 25 of which launched today, can accelerate transformation for healthcare companies as generative AI introduces numerous opportunities for pharmaceutical companies, doctors and hospitals.

Key Points:

The microservices, 25 of which launched today, can accelerate transformation for healthcare companies as generative AI introduces numerous opportunities for pharmaceutical companies, doctors and hospitals.
These include screening for trillions of drug compounds to advance medicine, gathering better patient data to aid early disease detection and implementing smarter digital assistants.
“By helping healthcare companies easily build and manage AI solutions, we’re enabling them to harness the full power and potential of generative AI.”
The new suite of healthcare microservices includes NVIDIA NIM , which provides optimized inference for a growing collection of models across imaging, medtech, drug discovery and digital health.
Hippocratic AI is developing task-specific Generative AI Healthcare Agents, powered by the company’s safety-focused LLM for healthcare, connected to NVIDIA Avatar Cloud Engine microservices and will utilize NVIDIA NIM for low-latency inferencing and speech recognition.

Sibylla Biotech Enters a Strategic Drug Discovery Collaboration with Ono Pharmaceutical in Central Nervous System Disorders

Retrieved on:

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Oncology, Health, Research, Pharmaceutical, Science, Biotechnology, Discovery, Central nervous system, Entrepreneurship, Ono Pharmaceutical, Partnership, Patient, CNS, Doctor of Philosophy, Protein, Senior, Protein folding, Drug development, Pharmaceutical industry

Sibylla Biotech announced today a drug discovery collaboration with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TSE: 4528) that will access Sibylla’s cutting-edge Pharmacological Protein Inactivation by Folding Intermediates Targeting (PPI-FIT) technology to identify and develop candidates for multiple therapeutic targets in the field of Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders.

Key Points:

Sibylla Biotech announced today a drug discovery collaboration with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TSE: 4528) that will access Sibylla’s cutting-edge Pharmacological Protein Inactivation by Folding Intermediates Targeting (PPI-FIT) technology to identify and develop candidates for multiple therapeutic targets in the field of Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders.
Ono Pharmaceutical plans to harness this technology to address some of the most challenging aspects of CNS drug development by targeting proteins involved in complex neurological pathways.
Together, we aim to unlock new therapeutic possibilities for patients worldwide,” commented Lidia Pieri, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sibylla Biotech.
“I am honored to collaborate with the Ono Pharmaceutical team, whose rich history, expertise and culture I greatly appreciate, and all of us at Sibylla look forward to working closely with them.”

China Medical University Hospital (CMUH) in Taiwan Upgrades Smart Healthcare with Gen AI

Retrieved on:

Saturday, February 17, 2024

TAICHUNG, Feb. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- China Medical University Hospital (CMUH) in Taiwan announced its collaboration with Google Cloud in mid-December 2023. Using Google Cloud's generative AI technology, including MedLM, which is a large language model built on Med-PaLM 2, CMUH has developed a comprehensive "AI-assisted Physician" system which aims to assist healthcare professionals in disease diagnosis, treatment planning, patient education, and medical research, etc.

Key Points:

Establishing a comprehensive "AI-assisted Physician" using generative AI from Google Cloud, including MedLM
TAICHUNG, Feb. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- China Medical University Hospital (CMUH) in Taiwan announced its collaboration with Google Cloud in mid-December 2023.
Through its collaboration with Google Cloud, CMUH is dedicated to driving AI innovation in smart healthcare to shape the future of healthcare in Taiwan.
MedLM will help facilitate CMUH in the timely access of accurate medical information to establish the best Healthcare AI models for the Chinese-speaking market in Asia.
In this remarkable era of gen AI, we are excited to collaborate with medical industry leaders that drive innovation through AI like CMUH, and partner with them to build the future of healthcare in Taiwan."

Gain Therapeutics Announces Preclinical Data Showing Restoration of Enzymatic Function with Novel Allosteric Regulators in GM1 Gangliosidosis Model

Retrieved on:

Friday, December 1, 2023

BETHESDA, Md., Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gain Therapeutics, Inc., (Nasdaq: GANX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company leading the discovery and development of the next generation of allosteric small molecule therapies, today announced the publication of preclinical data identifying a novel class of small molecule allosteric regulators that demonstrate therapeutic potential for galactosidase beta 1 (GLB1)-related lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs), including GM1 gangliosidosis. The study, “Validation of a highly sensitive HaloTag-based assay to evaluate the potency of a novel class of allosteric β-Galactosidase correctors,” was published in PLOS ONE.

Key Points:

The study, “Validation of a highly sensitive HaloTag-based assay to evaluate the potency of a novel class of allosteric β-Galactosidase correctors,” was published in PLOS ONE.
GM1-gangliosidosis is an inherited, progressive disorder characterized by the degeneration of brain and spinal cord cells, leading to muscle weakness, skeletal abnormalities, dystonia, and vision problems.
Mutations in the GLB1 gene significantly reduce the activity and function of the lysosomal hydrolase enzyme β-galactosidase (β-Gal) due to protein misfolding.
Additionally, there are no available disease-modifying treatments for GM1 gangliosidosis, with available therapies only focused on reducing symptoms and improving quality of life.

OpenFold Drug Discovery AI Research Consortium Announces Funding of Large-Scale Protein Data Collection at Prof. Gabriel Rocklin’s Laboratory at Northwestern University

Retrieved on:

Monday, October 2, 2023

OpenFold is a project of the Open Molecular Software Foundation (OMSF), a non-profit organization advancing molecular sciences by building communities for open-source research software development.

Key Points:

OpenFold is a project of the Open Molecular Software Foundation (OMSF), a non-profit organization advancing molecular sciences by building communities for open-source research software development.
Prof. Rocklin’s lab is a pioneer in the creation of high-quality, large-scale, open protein data to improve AI models.
OpenFold and AlphaFold depend on the Protein Data Bank resource for learning to predict protein structures, but no similar resources currently exist for learning the principles of protein stability and function.
“Open data is a foundational resource powering the AI revolution in protein science, and we are completely aligned with OpenFold’s commitment to sharing and collaboration.”

Sibylla Biotech Appoints Dominique Bridon as Executive Chairman of the Board

Retrieved on:

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Sibylla Biotech today announces the appointment of Dominique Bridon, Ph.D., as Executive Chairman of its Board of Directors.

Key Points:

Sibylla Biotech today announces the appointment of Dominique Bridon, Ph.D., as Executive Chairman of its Board of Directors.
Dr. Bridon brings more than 30 years of experience in operations as well as research and development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.
As an expert in implementing AI-based technologies for drug development and with a broad knowledge base in precision oncology, Dr. Bridon has successfully led drug discovery efforts from conception to clinical development.
Joining Sibylla, Dr. Bridon will contribute his expertise and lead the Board as Sibylla expands its proprietary pipeline of innovative protein degraders.

WaveBreak Presents New Preclinical Data at MDS 2023 Demonstrating the Efficacy of its First-in-Class, Small-Molecule Inhibitors of Toxic Oligomers for Blocking Progression of Both α-Synuclein Oligomers and Aggregates in Models of Parkinson's Disease

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Therapy, Disease, Protein folding, MDS, Movement, Protein, Parkinson's disease, Drug discovery, Poster, ALS, M83, Neurotoxicity, Alzheimer's disease, Pharmaceutical industry, Fine chemical, SNCA

BOSTON, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WaveBreak announced today the presentation of new preclinical data for its first-in-class, oral inhibitors of α-synuclein oligomer generation demonstrating efficacy for blocking the progression of both α-synuclein oligomers and aggregates in cell and mouse models of Parkinson's disease.

Key Points:

BOSTON, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WaveBreak announced today the presentation of new preclinical data for its first-in-class, oral inhibitors of α-synuclein oligomer generation demonstrating efficacy for blocking the progression of both α-synuclein oligomers and aggregates in cell and mouse models of Parkinson's disease.
The data were presented in a poster presentation today at the MDS International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders® taking place August 27–31 in Copenhagen.
Highlights of the presentation follow, and the poster is available on WaveBreak's website:
A WaveBreak oral, small-molecule inhibitor of α-synuclein oligomer generation—WTX-A—demonstrated potent reduction of α-synuclein oligomers and aggregates in cell and mouse models of Parkinson's disease.
WaveBreak's technology platform enables analysis of the inhibition of the source mechanisms that produce oligomer intermediates in complex disease processes.

Nutromics attracts world leaders in the emerging field of DNA-based sensing to join its Biosensor Advisory Board

Retrieved on:

Friday, July 28, 2023

Columbia University, Scientia, University, Thomson Reuters, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Believer, Protein folding, University of California, Associate, Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Johns Hopkins, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, Pharmaceutical industry, Medical imaging, Chemistry, Pharmacology

Nutromics is a leader in continuous DNA-based sensing and is developing the world's first precision diagnostic platform.

Key Points:

Nutromics is a leader in continuous DNA-based sensing and is developing the world's first precision diagnostic platform.
The board consists of researchers from Columbia University, University of California, Johns Hopkins, North Carolina State University, and the University of New South Wales.
"We've attracted the most acclaimed researchers in the field because we're world leaders in the space of continuous DNA-based sensing," said Nutromics CEO and co-founder Peter Vranes.
To achieve this, we need to collaborate with the most experienced experts, and this advisory board represents a major step in that direction."

Your genetic code has lots of 'words' for the same thing – information theory may help explain the redundancies

Retrieved on:

Thursday, July 27, 2023

The universality of the genetic code indicates a common ancestry among all living organisms and the essential role this code plays in the structure, function and regulation of biological cells.

Key Points:

The universality of the genetic code indicates a common ancestry among all living organisms and the essential role this code plays in the structure, function and regulation of biological cells.
Understanding how the genetic code works is the foundation of genetic engineering and synthetic biology.
Just as computers need strings of binary code to function, biological processes also rely on bits of information.

Different words for the same thing

Ribosomes read three-letter words called codons, and there are 64 different possible combinations of the four letters that make different codons.
In this list of 64 words, 61 encode amino acids, and three signal the ribosome to stop protein synthesis in the cell.
In fact, since there are only 20 amino acids but 61 different words to encode them, there is quite a lot of overlap.

Engineering nature’s guidelines

The mapping of the 61 codes onto the the 20 amino acids would be roughly equal, with each amino acid assigned three codons.
Not only does the final form of a protein need to be optimal, but so do its intermediate forms.
Scientists understand some of the guidelines that nature follows when engineering the genetic code.

Information theory and genetics

Nature’s affinity for optimization using this irrational number is responsible for the infinitely repeating fractals seen in jagged shorelines, fern leaves, snowflakes and trees.
Beyond biology, information optimization using e also has applications in mathematics and cosmology.
Entropy is a measure of disorder in a system, and the maximum entropy principle states that systems evolve to states of greater disorder.
Although there are many biological mysteries that scientists have yet to solve, information theory can be a powerful tool to help crack the genetic code.