AI/Machine Learning for Early Drug Discovery – Part 2 Icon

Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 6th Annual

AI/Machine Learning for Early Drug Discovery – Part 2

Generative AI & Predictive Algorithms for Small Molecule & Peptide Therapeutics

APRIL 3 - 4, 2024

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) for Early Drug Discovery is a two-part conference that brings together a diverse group of experts from chemistry, target discovery, pharmacology and bioinformatics, to talk about the increasing use of computational tools, models, algorithms and data analytics for drug development. The talks will highlight the pros and cons of AI/ML-driven decision-making using relevant case studies from small molecule and peptide drug development. The second part of this conference will focus on emerging computational tools and models to identify new drug targets, predict PK/PD and safety issues in drug candidates, and to drive niche applications in drug discovery.

Wednesday, April 3

Registration Open12:00 pm

Welcome Remarks1:30 pm

AI-ENABLED PIPELINE PROGRESSION

1:35 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

Lourdes Rueda, PhD, Principal Scientist, Medicinal Chemistry, Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

1:40 pm

In silico ADME/Tox in the Generative AI Paradigm

Sean Ekins, PhD, Founder & CEO, Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

In the early 2000s pharmaceutical drug discovery was beginning to use computational approaches for ADME/Tox prediction in an effort to reduce the risk of later stage failures. Much has been written in the intervening twenty-plus years and significant expenditure has occurred in companies developing these in silico capabilities. It is therefore an appropriate time to assess where these tools can fit in today’s generative AI paradigm for drug discovery.

2:10 pm

Modeling Industrial ADME Datasets Using Multitask Neural Networks

Joe Napoli, PhD, Principal AI Scientist, DMPK, Genentech Inc.

Significant quantities of ADME data are collected throughout early discovery to inform molecular designs and mitigate risk. Quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models aim to extract maximal value from these datasets by learning relationships between molecular structures and the ADME properties of interest. We present findings from a study focused on modeling historical ADME datasets with multitask neural networks, using both fully internal datasets as well as hybrid internal/external datasets.

2:40 pm High Performance Quantum Chemistry Methods for Pharmacology

Robert Parrish, PhD, SVP, Quantum Chemistry, QC Ware

This talk details recent progress with Promethium to make high-accuracy quantum chemical workflows. These workflows are fast, robust, and insightful enough for production use in mainline small-molecule ligand discovery programs. Our platform is built on a new quantum chemistry engine optimized for NVIDIA GPUs. We discuss common molecular design workflows such as conformer search, torsion scan, intrinsic reaction coordinate optimization, transition state optimization, and pharmacology-specific workflows for ligand-protein interaction analysis.

Refreshment & Dessert Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing3:10 pm

4:00 pm

Recursion Map-Based Drug Discovery Approach: From Project Ideation to Lead Optimization

Lourdes Rueda, PhD, Principal Scientist, Medicinal Chemistry, Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Recursion’s integrated operating system combines proprietary in-house data generation and advanced computational tools to generate novel insights to initiate and accelerate programs. Using our platform we follow a mapping and navigating approach that enables us not only to unravel the complexity of biology but also to identify chemical starting-points and drive SAR. Following this novel approach we efficiently advance projects from initiation through different stages of pre-clinical development.

4:30 pm

Leveraging ML and Mechanistic Modeling in Concert to Accelerate Drug Discovery

Garegin Papoian, PhD, Monroe Martin Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Maryland Institute for Physical Science and Technology

In silico modeling has aided drug development for nearly 50 years, but remains handicapped by speed/throughput and predictability of properties that lead to drug success. We're combining both physics-based modeling and machine learning to create an end-to-end drug discovery pipeline comprising generation and filtering of new chemical entities for a target in days. Our tools have outperformed other publicly-known tools on benchmarks and have successfully identified true binders from false positives for JAK2.

In-Person Breakouts5:00 pm

In-Person Breakouts are informal, moderated discussions, allowing participants to exchange ideas and experiences and develop future collaborations around a focused topic. Each breakout will be led by a facilitator who keeps the discussion on track and the group engaged. To get the most out of this format, please come prepared to share examples from your work, be a part of a collective, problem-solving session, and participate in active idea sharing. Please visit the Breakout Discussions page on the conference website for a complete listing of topics and descriptions.

IN-PERSON BREAKOUT 7: AI for Lead Optimization and Safety Predictions (SESSION ROOM)

Ewa Lis, PhD, Founder & CEO, Koliber Biosciences

Henrik Moebitz, Director, CADD, Global Discovery Chemistry, Novartis Biomedical Research

Lourdes Rueda, PhD, Principal Scientist, Medicinal Chemistry, Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Steve Swann, PhD, CSO, Chemistry & Design, TandemAI

  • Improving in silico ADME/Tox predictions
  • Combining AI/ML, structure-based methods and mechanistic modeling
  • Using generative chemistry to enhance physicochemical properties
  • AI/ML for peptide drug design and optimization
  • Discussing scenarios where AI/ML has been applied successfully​

Close of Day5:45 pm

Dinner Short Course Registration5:45 pm

Dinner Short Courses*6:15 pm

*Premium Pricing or separate registration required. See Short Courses page for details.

Thursday, April 4

Registration Open7:15 am

Diversity in Chemistry Breakfast Discussion7:45 am

Grab a plate and then a seat to join one of the in-person discussions below on growing the enterprise of chemistry (in terms of people diversity, not molecules). This session originated 4 years ago with a focus on ‘Women in Chemistry’, but every year the discussions raised more issues than time allowed. We’re broadening the topics but breaking them into smaller discussion-focused groups; topics will include the below. Please visit the Breakout Discussions page on the conference website for more details.


Paternity and Extended Leave  Moderator(s): Thomas Garner, Genentech 

Advancing Women in Chemistry  Moderator(s): Katerina Leftheris, Vilya

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts at Institutions & Companies  Moderator(s): Michelle Arkin, UCSF


PLENARY KEYNOTE SESSION

8:30 am

Plenary Welcome Remarks from Lead Content Director with Poster Finalists Announced

Anjani Shah, PhD, Senior Conference Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

8:35 am

PLENARY KEYNOTE: Reimagining Druggability Using Chemoproteomic Platforms

Daniel Nomura, PhD, Professor of Chemical Biology and Molecular Therapeutics, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

One of the greatest challenges that we face in discovering new disease therapies is that most proteins are considered “undruggable,” in that most proteins do not possess known binding pockets or “ligandable hotspots” that small molecules can bind to modulate protein function. Our research group addresses this challenge by applying chemoproteomic platforms to discover and pharmacologically target unique and novel ligandable hotspots for disease therapy.

Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing and Best of Show Awards Announced9:20 am

AI FOR HIT-TO-LEAD OPTIMIZATION

10:10 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Steve Swann, PhD, CSO, Chemistry & Design, TandemAI

10:15 am

Optimizing Lead Series for Two Targets by Fusing AI and Physics-Based Simulations

Steve Swann, PhD, CSO, Chemistry & Design, TandemAI

This will talk will describe the use of active learning and free energy perturbation (FEP) to optimize chemical series on 2 active drug discovery programs. Using generative design we are able to generate a large set of analogs for any chemical series, and identify the highest probability ideas using FEP and ML ADME models. This approach is the first described to combine AI and established structure-based methods to accelerate optimization of a chemical series.

10:45 am

Discovery of HRO761, an Allosteric, First-in-Class Clinical WRN Inhibitor, Demonstrating Synthetic Lethality in MSI Cancers

Henrik Moebitz, Director, CADD, Global Discovery Chemistry, Novartis Biomedical Research

We used a digital assay and generative chemistry to improve the physicochemical properties of our beyond-rule-of-5 lead, increasing oral exposure by a million-fold. The clinical WRN inhibitor HRO761 has the best physico-chemical profile of all de novo designed oral drugs above 700 Da, resulting in excellent human pharmacokinetics.

Sponsored Presentation (Opportunity Available)11:15 am

11:30 am

Optimized Molecules for Optimized Profiles: An AI-Driven Platform for Small Molecule Drug Discovery

Fred Manby, DPhil, Co-Founder & CTO, Iambic Therapeutics

Iambic has created a cutting-edge AI-driven platform to tackle the most challenging design problems in drug discovery and address unmet patient need. Our platform enables us to widely explore chemical space, while also sampling a wide range of target product profiles. We have demonstrated our platform on initial programs, with our first scheduled for clinical entry just two years after launch.

12:00 pm

Identifying Hit and Lead Optimization Using Medicinal Chemistry-Centric Explainable AI Platform

Sung Jin Cho, PhD, CEO, CIMPLRX

Traditional drug discovery platforms, developed by technical experts, often lack user-friendly designs and the expertise of medicinal chemists. CEEK-CURE, a novel medicinal chemistry-centric explainable AI (XAI) platform, bridges this gap. In this presentation, we will demonstrate the transformative impact of a medicinal chemistry-centric AI platform on enhancing hit rates and selectivity profiles. We will showcase two different projects focusing on oncology and neuropathic pain targets.

Enjoy Lunch on Your Own12:30 pm

Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Awards Announced (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)1:05 pm

AI/ML FOR TARGET-SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS

1:55 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

Ruben Abagyan, PhD, Professor, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego

2:00 pm

AI-ML Docking Pipeline for Giga-Screens versus New Target Profiles and Hidden Pockets

Ruben Abagyan, PhD, Professor, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego

Rapidly evolving computer hardware, software, and machine learning algorithms, rapidly growing databases related to chemical compounds, biomolecules and biomedicine offer a unique opportunity to dramatically accelerate lead discovery for unmet medical needs, rare and neglected diseases, and emerging threats. We will describe the recent advances in searching billions of compounds for challenging tasks and new targets by using combining large-scale docking, modeling, GPU-algorithms, with AI and machine learning in one pipeline.

2:30 pm

Prospective Design of a Selective Cyclin E/CDK2 Dual Degrader

Bryce Allen, PhD, Co-Founder & CEO, Differentiated Therapeutics

With the surge in targeted protein degradation as a therapeutic strategy, there is an increasing demand for novel molecules capable of selectively targeting and degrading disease-associated proteins. Cyclin E and CDK2, key regulators of the cell cycle, have been implicated in various malignancies and represent promising therapeutic targets. We describe the prospective design of degrader molecules with high specificity for Cyclin E and CDK2 enabled by the Auto/dx platform.

3:00 pm PLENARY PANEL DISCUSSION:

Innovative Drug Discovery: Insights from Venture Capitalists

PANEL MODERATORS:

Michelle Arkin, PhD, Chair and Distinguished Professor, Pharmaceutical Chemistry & Director, Small Molecule Discovery Center, University of California, San Francisco

Daniel A. Erlanson, PhD, Chief Innovation Officer, Innovation and Discovery, Frontier Medicines Corporation

The high-risk but 'high impact-when-successful' strategy of VC investors gives them a uniquely critical lens through which to view innovation. Join us for an interactive discussion with VCs who will share the trends they are watching in drug discovery. The panel represents a variety of small and large venture firms, who provide early rounds of funding, as well as those who invest at later or all stages.

Topics to be covered:
  • Introduction to VC panelists and their fund’s areas of focus
  • Investing in platforms versus products
  • Perspectives on emerging technologies or approaches (AI/ML, induced proximity and more)
  • Advice on funding options for start-ups beyond VCs, such as angels and grants
  • Pitfalls for early-stage companies to avoid when seeking funding
PANELISTS:

Wendy B. Young, PhD, BioPharma Discovery

Rebecca Silberman, PhD, Senior Venture Associate, RA Capital Management LLC

Shyam Masrani, Principal, Medicxi

Jamie Kasuboski, PhD, Partner, Luma Group

Olga Danilchanka, PhD, Principal, MRL Ventures Fund

Networking Refreshment Break3:45 pm

4:00 pm

Using AI in RNA-Small Molecule Drug Discovery

Timothy Allen, PhD, Head of ChemAI, Serna Bio

At Serna Bio, we’re investigating the potential of AI to rapidly accelerate the discovery and development of small molecule modulators of RNA function. To train our ML models, we’ve generated a proprietary dataset of ~2.5 million RNA-small molecule binding data points. Using these models, we can computationally learn features of small molecules that bind to different RNA motifs and identify distinct chemical features in different subsets of RNA binders.

4:30 pm

Foundation Models for RNA-Targeted Small Molecule Drug Discovery

Stephan Eismann, PhD, Head of ML, Atomic AI

Since its inception, Atomic AI has made substantial advances in its AI platform for RNA-targeted small molecule drug discovery. These advances have been enabled by large-scale in-house data collection and the development of new ML models. The talk describes ATOM-1, a large language model trained on billions of experimental data points, and its applications in drug discovery at Atomic AI.

5:00 pm

Progress Towards Minimizing Input Data Requirements for Protein and Peptide Property Predictions

Ewa Lis, PhD, Founder & CEO, Koliber Biosciences

This presentation will highlight the Koliber AI platform's progress in minimizing input dataset requirements for predicting peptide and protein properties such as potency, stability and permeability. We will explore a range of applications, including anti-microbial and immune-modulating peptides, as well as various datasets containing non-canonical amino acids and cyclic peptides. We will present examples demonstrating de novo predictions of substitutions for peptides and proteins that influence potency and substrate specificity.

Close of Conference5:30 pm