Top market ‘AI in biotech’ stories
AI tools revolutionize sleep diagnosis, discover new antivirals, and predict protein phenotypes
We’re introducing a new monthly series from Ardigen—your curated selection of the latest news in AI for biotech and pharma. In just 3–4 minutes, catch up on the innovations reshaping drug discovery and biomedical research. We’ll publish fresh insights on the second Tuesday of each month, so you can stay informed and inspired. Happy reading!
In today’s edition:
- 😴AI Revolutionizes Sleep Diagnosis
- 🤖François Chollet’s AGI New Lab
- 🦠AI against COVID & other viruses
- 🧑🏻💻Multi-modal protein phenotype prediction model
Mount Sinai researchers achieve 92% accuracy in diagnosing REM sleep behavior disorder with AI
The AI-powered computer-vision tool analyzes video from standard sleep tests to detect subtle sleep movements, enabling earlier and more accurate diagnosis of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). This breakthrough could help identify early signs of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and personalize treatment plans based on movement severity.
François Chollet launches startup to pioneer AGI development
Influential AI researcher François Chollet and Zapier co-founder Mike Knoop have founded Ndea, a research lab aiming to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) capable of learning, adapting, and innovating like humans. Leveraging techniques like program synthesis, the lab seeks to overcome AI research challenges and accelerate scientific breakthroughs, assembling a world-class team to push the boundaries of deep learning.
AI drug discovery firm advances antiviral capable of fighting COVID and other RNA viruses
Model Medicines, an AI-driven drug discovery company, has revealed promising preclinical results for MDL-001, an oral small molecule that reduces SARS-CoV levels in mouse lungs and neutralizes other RNA viruses like hepatitis C, norovirus, and influenza in lab settings. Published as a preprint, the study also shows MDL-001 surpassing Paxlovid’s active ingredient in reducing COVID virus levels in mice, while matching remdesivir in slowing disease-related weight loss.
ProCyon: A Game-Changer in Protein Phenotype Prediction
Decoding protein phenotypes has long been a critical hurdle for connecting molecular biology to therapeutic breakthroughs. ProCyon is a new, cutting-edge multimodal foundation model was designed to address this challenge. Developed by leading researchers from MIT, Harvard, and the Broad Institute, ProCyon integrates protein sequences, structures, and phenotypic data into a unified framework, paving the way for accelerated therapeutic discoveries and functional protein design.
Reference: Queen, O., et al., “PROCYON: A multimodal foundation model for protein phenotypes,” bioRxiv, 2024. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.10.627665v1
