Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI) -driven drug discovery company, specialized in target discovery, small molecule chemistry, and clinical development, announced a collaboration with the University of Cambridge.
The agreement outlines a constructive framework whereby Insilico licenses PandaOmics, an AI-driven target discovery tool, to the University of Cambridge and fully sponsors a post-graduate studentship for target identification for human diseases linked to protein liquid-liquid phase separation.
Recent research shows that protein liquid-liquid phase separation is widely present in cells and drives a variety of important biological functions. The cellular condensates formed by liquid-liquid phase separation have been associated with various human diseases, although the causative molecular mechanisms remain to be established. This calls for effective target identification studies to enable successful drug discovery programs for this class of diseases.
The collaboration between Insilico and the University of Cambridge will focus on major human diseases linked to protein liquid-liquid phase separation. According to the agreement, the two parties will combine the pioneering approach introduced by Prof. Michele Vendruscolo’s group at the University of Cambridge, which allows for the proteome-wide prediction of the propensity of proteins to form liquid condensates, with the power of PandaOmics by Insilico to link these proteins with cellular processes and human disease. The outcome will be a series of targets for drug discovery, with the goal of modulating their cytotoxic behavior pharmacologically upon liquid-liquid phase separation.
“Professor Michele Vendruscolo’s lab is one of the world’s top centers of competence and knowledge creation in neurodegenerative diseases and protein homeostasis. I am deeply honored to know that a graduate student equipped with the AI-powered target discovery tool PandaOmics may have a chance to contribute to this very promising research direction” said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., founder and CEO, Insilico.
“I am delighted that we will have the opportunity to join forces with Insilico. By working together, we will be in a strong position to identify the biological processes and the corresponding proteins representing the best targets for pharmacological interventions for human diseases caused by aberrant liquid-liquid phase separation,” said Prof. Michele Vendruscolo, Co-Director, Centre for Misfolding Diseases, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge.
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