Latest news with #AlphaFold
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Isomorphic Labs sets up US presence in Cambridge, with an eye on clinical trials
After developing AlphaFold into a drug design platform, the company has entered the era where it is progressing some of those AI-enabled drug candidates toward clinical trials — and to do that, it needs a footprint in the United States. Isomorphic's move comes during a particularly turbulent period for the Advertisement Its first hire in Cambridge is Ben Wolf, who will work from the new office as the company's chief medical officer to build Isomorphic's clinical development team. Wolf was most recently CMO at Relay Therapeutics, whose cancer drug targets have been informed by computational discovery methods. At the end of March, Isomorphic Labs announced a Advertisement 'We're advancing quickly towards the clinic,' said Murdoch. 'As you think about the initial focus of the team in Boston and hiring of Ben, it hits squarely in that second bracket.' Earlier this year, Isomorphic announced development partnerships with US-based Eli Lilly and Switzerland-based Novartis worth $82.5 million up front, with nearly $3 billion in potential value. It also has internal assets in development in oncology and immunology. 'Whether they're headquartered in Boston or not, they've got a strong presence there, so it's helpful to be close to our partners,' said Murdoch, who declined to project clinical timelines for any of the drug candidates. Isomorphic's new office — which has yet to find a permanent home — comes at a The Cambridge office will start small, with up to a dozen employees focused on getting trials off the ground. That's less than a tenth of Isomorphic's total headcount, with about 200 employees concentrated in a central London office and to a smaller extent, in a newer office in Lausanne, Switzerland. Later on, the Cambridge office plans to recruit in other areas — including medicinal chemistry, machine learning, and computational biology — as it continues developing its drug engines. Earlier iterations focused on small molecule drugs, the target of Isomorphic's current pharma partnerships, but the company has expanded to biologics. 'Technically, the platform models everything in terms of atoms,' said Murdoch. 'Biologics and small molecules look pretty much the same when you look at them at that level.' Advertisement Despite Wolf's clinical development expertise, Murdoch said the chief medical officer would also be involved in moving Isomorphic's drug engine forward. 'It sounds a bit out of sequence, because you would normally think about it as a linear process,' he said. But 'in the end, what we're trying to do is create drugs that do work in humans in the clinic. So why not bring forward those insights at the beginning?'
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
AI driven Innovations in targeted drug delivery: The emergence of needless syringes.
How do they work? Live Events Developed using AI, more specifically DeepMind's AlphaFold program, there now exists a syringe that does not require a long stainless steel needle that should pierce through skin and administer drugs into the targeted area. Although this innovation remains in its infancy, the tests conducted in vitro and in mice have shown highly promising so, this should revolutionize targeted drug delivery and gene therapies, potentially reshaping the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Engineering needless syringes (molecular syringes) for direct protein injection into human cells shall enhance precision and minimize adverse effects. Moreover, this innovation addresses a major bottleneck in medicine, effectively delivering therapeutic molecules to the right novel approach uses a naturally occurring syringe-like protein from "photorhabdus' bacteria, with which AI helps to target specific cell receptors. These bacteria utilize syringe-like machines, called 'extracellular contractile injection systems (eCISs),' to inject proteins into host cells. Researchers have modified these eCISs to be approximately 100 nanometers long to deliver the proteins into human process further inculcates re-engineering the tail fibers of the eCIS to latch to a specific receptor on the surface of the target cells, allowing the syringe to cling onto these cells. AlphaFold, here, is used to enhance the binding affinity and increase the precision with which the tail fibers will latch themselves. Once attached, the syringe shall inject its protein material through the cell membrane. Scientists can manipulate another part of the complex to control the delivery of specific proteins with high can also be engineered to recognize and bind to specific proteins on mouse cells (in a mouse model), ensuring that the injected material is delivered only to targeted areas, all while avoiding unwanted immune responses. This breakthrough holds immense potential for revolutionizing gene therapy, cancer treatment, and biocontrol by enabling highly precise and controlled drug the AI-designed molecular syringes were also able to demonstrate their capability to deliver a variety of therapeutic agents, like the CRISPR-Cas9, a gene-editing tool often described as a molecular "scissor" that facilitates precise gene editing by cutting specific DNA segments. Moreover, it was able to inculcate the 'zinc-finger deaminases' that enabled 'base-editing' by converting specific DNA bases without cutting the DNA strand. Lastly, it was able to target and kill cancer cells by delivering cytotoxic agents directly into integration of DeepMind's AlphaFold was significant in redesigning the tail fibers of the molecular syringe. This tool allowed researchers to predict protein structures at a much faster rate, accelerating the process of modifying the syringe to target human cells. The study's first author, Joseph Kreitz, emphasized that without AlphaFold, achieving such predicted structures would have taken much longer, extending up to many more months, whereas the AI allowed for near real-time predictions and therefore streamlined the engineering from their current applications, researchers see these molecular syringes as programmable delivery devices. Devices of this kind could allow for controlled dosing, sustained release of therapeutics, and enhanced treatments like chemotherapy by reducing toxicity and increasing efficiency. Therefore, fostering a potential for these syringes to combat pathogenic bacteria by delivering antibacterial agents directly into harmful microbes.
Forbes
06-06-2025
- Science
- Forbes
The Prototype: This AI Model Could Make It Faster To Find New Medicines
In this week's edition of The Prototype, we look at a new AI model that could speed up drug discovery, how the Trump/Musk blowup could impact NASA, a new class of electronics and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here. getty The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in part to Deepmind's Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for the development of AlphaFold–an AI model that predicts the structure of proteins, the complex chemicals essential to making our bodies work. Since its inception, this model and others like it have been put to use in laboratories around the world, enabling new biological discoveries. Now a team from MIT and pharmaceutical company Recursion, with support from Cancer Grand Challenges, have developed a tool that takes these principles further–and may help researchers find new medicines more quickly. Called Boltz-2, this open-source generative AI model can not only predict the structure of proteins, it can also predict its binding affinity–that is, how well a potential drug is able to interact with that protein. This is crucial in the early stages of developing a new medicine. Until now, scientists could only find binding affinity in one of two ways: they could actually conduct an experiment to determine it, or they could use a complicated computer simulation process called FEP. In a paper published today, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, the team demonstrated that it could produce similar results to an FEP–but significantly faster. 'Boltz-2, in just 20 seconds, can match the performance of FEP, which usually takes from 6-12 hours,' said researcher Gabriele Corso. 'Pretty much changing the game.' Getty Images SpaceX has been caught in the crossfire of the ongoing feud between Donald Trump and company founder Elon Musk. The two men have been sharing barbs over the President's proposed budget bill, with Musk criticizing it for including too much spending and increasing the deficit. On Thursday afternoon, the President posted on Truth Social that '[t]he easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.' If Trump were to follow through on cancelling contracts, the biggest price may well be paid by NASA. Although the space agency played a crucial role in getting the company off the ground, SpaceX doesn't need it anymore. According to Musk, the company is currently bringing in around $15.5 billion a year in revenue. Forbes estimates that about 80% of this comes from its internet business, Starlink. And while SpaceX still gets plenty of government business, it also launches dozens of commercial spacecraft every year. The reverse, however, isn't true. NASA relies heavily on SpaceX for its operations–the company's rockets launched more than half of the agency's space missions last year. And while NASA has other partners in aerospace, such as Boeing, many are years behind SpaceX in terms of development. Read the whole story here. A team of researchers at Virginia Tech invented a new kind of circuit board that is both more durable and easier to recycle than conventional electronics. It's composed of a soft plastic that's embedded with a liquid, conductive metal to carry electricity. The resulting electronics work even if they're bent out of shape and can even self-repair some damage. For recycling, they can be chemically deconstructed with a simple process that makes it easy to re-form into a new product. Japanese space startup Ispace's second attempt to land a spacecraft on the Moon failed this week. According to the company, the laser rangefinder that its spacecraft used to measure the distance to the surface experienced communications difficulties. Because it didn't know its altitude, it didn't slow down enough for a safe landing, causing it to crash. In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, Amy Feldman and I looked at the impact of Trump's proposed budget cuts on biomedical research and global health, news from the ASCO cancer meeting and a biotech company making drug products through fermentation. Solar panels provide an unexpected environmental benefit–when they're placed in drought-prone grasslands, they boost soil moisture levels and increase plant growth by 20% compared to open fields, because of both the shade they provide and water that collects on them. A new compound, called infuzide, showed antibacterial activity against strains that are resistant to antibiotics, which may provide a new weapon for doctors against infectious diseases. Amazon is reportedly testing humanoid robots to see if they can be used to deliver packages. The retail giant has already been putting similar technology to work in its warehouses. Researchers found that diatoms, a kind of algae with silica in its cell walls, could be introduced to the Moon's soil to make it capable of growing crops. If you're in midlife and wondering if you should abandon your morning coffee, think twice–at least, if you're a woman. That's because a new analysis, which followed nearly 50,000 women for over 30 years, found that those who drank coffee (the good stuff, with caffeine) were more likely to age in a healthy way, maintaining both their physical and cognitive health across a wide variety of parameters, than those who drank tea or decaf. As a middle-aged dad, two things I greatly enjoy are hard rock music and military history. Swedish metal band Sabaton scratches both of those itches at the same time by singing heavy ballads about historic battles and the people who fought them. Some of my favorite tracks of theirs include 'Night Witches' (about an all-female Soviet bomber regiment in World War II), 'The Last Stand' (about the Swiss Guards who defended Rome in battle in 1527), "Blood of Bannockburn" (about a major victory in the War of Scottish Independence) and 'To Hell And Back' (about American World War II hero Audie Murphy). They're like Schoolhouse Rock but with much better guitar solos.
Time of India
06-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Beyond agentic AI: Autonomous factories, exoskeletons, and AI as a physical stack
Shanker Trivedi, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Business, NVIDIA Pradeep Gupta, Vice President, Generative AI & Accelerated Computing, NVIDIA Susan Marshall, Senior Director, Developer Relations, NVIDIA Prerna Dogra, Director, Product Management & Developer Ecosystems, Healthcare AI, NVIDIA Rajani Parameshwar, Senior Director, Corporate Development, NVIDIA Live Events Next generation warehouses and factories that autonomously produce cars. Wearable exoskeletons that respond to a person's movements in real time and enhance ergonomic support, mobility, and rehabilitation. 'Embodied' hospitals that have AI integrated in physical agents such as robots to support operational and medical tasks. The everyman — whether a biologist, librarian, musician, and so on — as a developer in a specific of this may sound like science fiction, but it is science fact that will inevitably come to be in the near future. That was the broad takeaway of the grand panel, 'The Future of AI – Platforms, Innovation, & Investments' on day three of TiEcon 2025, the world's largest tech conference, and the biggest in its 32-year history, took place this May in the heart of Silicon Valley. The conference brought together 3,000-plus entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders from around the globe. With over 180 speakers and this year's theme, 'AiVerse', the conference showcased the transformative power of innovation. Under the leadership of TiE Silicon Valley President Anita Manwani, TiEcon continues to drive a culture of transformational change, fostering new ideas, connections, and opportunities for the next wave of global panelists for 'The Future of AI – Platforms, Innovation, & Investments' were:Some highlights from the discussion:Apart from exoskeletons that can detect intent and locomotion and support wearers without manual input, AI use cases in healthcare extend to brain-computer interfaces, especially for conditions like Alzheimer's disease. In hospitals, embodied AI can function autonomously through a combination of sensors, robotics, computer vision, and machine learning. And in the realm of biotechnology, initiatives such as AlphaFold are predicting protein structures with atomic-level precision, revolutionising medical and biological research.'Our journey started about 15 years ago with sensor processing. Building on that stack, we now have a world-class, medical-grade, real-time sensor processing platform called HoloScan. It's the first of its kind: the foundation of what we're seeing in intuitive, robotics-assisted surgery,' Prerna Dogra said. 'We also founded an open-source project called MONAI or the Medical Open Network for AI. It's crossed five million downloads and is a benchmark in medical R&D. There's an explosion of startups and AI agents shaping how care is delivered. In Silicon Valley alone, you have 17, 18, 19 such verticals.'NVIDIA's Developer Relations division is bridging the gap between developers and cutting-edge tech by giving stakeholders — including startup founders — the partnership and support required to build applications accelerated by Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Its Senior Director Susan Marshall, a former founder herself, now works with startups across financial services, robotics, and healthcare for their full AI stacks. Through prepackaged 'containers' called NVIDIA Inference Microservices or NIMS, the company offers workstations, data centres, and neo-clouds that effectively streamline the running of AI models.'We now have 22,000 startups in our programme, and it's growing. It could even be two guys in a garage that have a great idea, and we'll go out and help,' Marshall said. 'NVIDIA is a very founder-friendly company. We are check size-agnostic and stage agnostic. Between the two investing arms of NVIDIA, CorpDev and Nventures, we pretty much cover a wide gamut of startups.'NVIDIA is currently helping solve domain-specific problems in 20-plus industries, ranging from drug discovery and retail checkouts to algorithmic trading and digital twins in is a major investor in 'neo-clouds' or AI-focussed cloud providers. And because GPUs are energy-intensive, the company has taken a proactive approach to partnering with startups that work to reduce energy bottlenecks via sustainable energy solutions such as wind, solar, geothermal, and carbon company's Jetson edge AI platform is also being deployed in smart meters in the US. Capabilities include processing troves of local energy data, predicting grid conditions, helping utility providers optimise load management, and helping consumers reduce their bills through real-time energy management.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia, Dell announce major project to reshape AI
Nvidia, Dell announce major project to reshape AI originally appeared on TheStreet. I believe that the universe always keeps things in balance. For every positive thing, there is a negative, and vice versa. Imagine working as a teacher for a moment. The world has changed, and suddenly everyone has access to artificial intelligence. Are your students using ChatGPT to do their homework? Absolutely. Would you like to be in that teacher's shoes? I know I wouldn't. What if this AI revolution turns out to be a tragedy like the use of leaded petrol, which is suspected to have lowered the IQ of Americans born in the 1960s and 1970s? While AI advances could potentially extinguish future scientific minds, today's scientists use powerful computers to deliver scientific breakthroughs. Google's AlphaFold, a program for protein structure prediction, had already made breakthroughs in 2018 before the advent of agentic AI. In 2024, its authors Demis Hassabis and John Jumper were awarded one-half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the other half went to David Baker for his work on protein design. Baker wasn't doing his research on pen and paper either; he relied on the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center's Perlmutter supercomputer to do his work. Now, Dell is working on something for those for whom Perlmutter isn't good enough. Dell Technologies () released its earnings report for Q1 Fiscal 2026 on May 29. Here are some of the highlights: Revenue of $23.4 billion, up 5% year over year Operating income of $1.2 billion, up 21% YoY Diluted EPS of $1.37, flat YoY, 'We achieved first-quarter record servers and networking revenue of $6.3 billion, and we're experiencing unprecedented demand for our AI-optimized servers. We generated $12.1 billion in AI orders this quarter alone, surpassing the entirety of shipments in all of FY25 and leaving us with $14.4 billion in backlog," stated Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Dell. Most of that backlog consists of complex systems built using Nvidia () Blackwell Dell is leaning heavily on Nvidia, Nvidia is looking for ways to minimize losses caused by new government policies that require a license to export its H20 chip to China. As TheStreet's Samuel O'Brient reports, Nvidia could not ship an additional $2.5 billion worth of H20 products during Q1 because of the restrictions. On top of that, Nvidia expects the H20 licensing requirement to result in an $8 billion revenue hit during Q2. Nvidia's guidance is for roughly $45 billion in sales in the second quarter. On May 29, Nvidia and Dell announced Doudna, a supercomputer for NERSC, a U.S. Department of Energy user facility at Berkeley Lab. It is set to launch in 2026 and is named for Nobel laureate and CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna. According to Nvidia, Doudna is expected to outperform its predecessor, Perlmutter, by more than 10x in scientific output, all while using just 2-3x the power. It will be powered by NVIDIA's next-generation Vera Rubin chips.'I'm so proud that America continues to invest in this particular area,' stated NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang. 'It is the foundation of scientific discovery for our country. It is also the foundation for economic and technology leadership.' More Nvidia: Analysts issue rare warning on Nvidia stock before key earnings Analysts double price target of new AI stock backed by Nvidia Nvidia CEO shares blunt message on China chip sales ban Unlike conventional systems, Doudna merges simulation, data, and AI into a single seamless platform, built for real-time discovery. 'We're not just building a faster computer,' stated Nick Wright, advanced technologies group lead and Doudna chief architect at NERSC. 'We're building a system that helps researchers think bigger and discover sooner.' Doudna includes support for scalable quantum algorithm development and the co-design of future integrated quantum high-performance computing systems. Research teams, working on climate models and particle physics, are already porting full workflows to Doudna. Nvidia seems to be finding ways to recoup the revenue losses created by the new regulations, as Huang recently hinted at the possibility of greater partnership with Tesla and Dell announce major project to reshape AI first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 3, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 3, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
