Google Cloud launches AI tools to accelerate drug discovery
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A person walks next to the Google Cloud logo at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain February 27, 2023. Nacho Doce | Reuters
Target and Lead Identification Suite
The Target and Lead Identification Suite aims to streamline the first key step of drug development, which is identifying a biological target that researchers can focus on and design a treatment around, according to Maniar. A biological target is most commonly a protein, an essential building block of diseases and all other parts of life. Finding that target involves identifying the structure of a protein, which determines its function, or the role it plays in a disease. “If you can understand the role, the protein structure and role, now you can start developing drugs around that,” Maniar said. But that process is time-consuming and often unsuccessful. Scientists can take around 12 months just to identify a biological target, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The two techniques researchers traditionally use to determine protein structures also have a high rate of failure, according to Maniar. She also said it’s difficult for traditional technologies to increase or decrease the amount of work they do based on demand. Google Cloud’s suite has a three-pronged approach for making that process more efficient. The suite allows scientists to ingest, share and manage molecular data on a protein using Google Cloud’s Analytics Hub, a platform that lets users securely exchange data across organizations. Researchers can then use that data to predict the structure of a protein with AlphaFold2, a machine learning model developed by a subsidiary of Google. AlphaFold2 runs on Google’s Vertex AI pipeline, a platform that allows researchers to build and deploy machine learning models faster. In minutes, AlphaFold2 can predict the 3D structure of a protein with more accuracy than traditional technologies and at the scale researchers need. Predicting that structure is critical because it can help researchers understand a protein’s function in a disease. The final component of Google Cloud’s suite helps researchers identify how the protein’s structure interacts with different molecules. A molecule can become the basis for a new drug if it changes that protein’s function and ultimately demonstrates the ability to treat the disease. Researchers can use Google Cloud's high-performance computing resources to find “the most promising” molecules that could lead to the development of a new drug, according to a press release on the new tools. Those services provide the infrastructure companies need to accelerate, automate and scale up their work. Cerevel, which focuses on developing treatments for neuroscience diseases, typically has to screen a large library of 3 million different molecules to find one that will produce a positive effect against a disease, according to Chief Scientific Officer John Renger. He called that process "complicated and involved and expensive." But Renger said the company will be able to weed out molecules faster using Google Cloud's suite. Computers will take care of screening molecules and help Cerevel "get to an answer really quickly," he said. Renger estimates Cerevel will save at least three years on average by using the suite to discover a new drug. He said it's difficult to estimate how much money the company will save, but emphasized that the suite cuts down on the resources and manual labor typically required to screen molecules. "What it means is we can get there faster, get there cheaper and we can get to drugs to patients much more quickly without as many failures," he told CNBC. Cerevel has been working with Google for more than a month to further understand the suite and determine how the company will use it. But Renger hopes Cerevel will "be at a place where we get some results" in the next month.
Multiomics Suite
Source: CNBC
