Integrated Biosciences, a biotechnology company combining synthetic biology and machine learning to target aging, in collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, today announced results demonstrating the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to discover novel senolytic compounds, a class of small molecules under intense study for their ability to suppress age-related processes such as fibrosis, inflammation and cancer. A new publication authored by company founders in Nature Aging, “Discovering small-molecule senolytics with deep neural networks,” describes the AI-guided screening of more than 800,000 compounds to reveal three drug candidates with comparable efficacy and superior medicinal chemistry properties than those of senolytics currently under investigation.

Senolytics are an emerging class of investigational drug compounds that selectively kill aging-associated senescent cells (left, with red stain) without affecting other cells (right). Using artificial intelligence, researchers from Integrated Biosciences have, for the first time, identified three senolytics with comparable efficacy and superior drug-like properties relative to leading investigational compounds. 

“This research result is a significant milestone for both longevity research and the application of artificial intelligence to drug discovery,” said Felix Wong, Ph.D., co-founder of Integrated Biosciences and first author of the publication. “These data demonstrate that we can explore chemical space in silico and emerge with multiple candidate anti-aging compounds that are more likely to succeed in the clinic, compared to even the most promising examples of their kind being studied today.”

Senolytics are compounds that selectively induce apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in senescent cells that are no longer dividing. A hallmark of aging, senescent cells have been implicated in a broad spectrum of age-related diseases and conditions including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Despite promising clinical results, most senolytic compounds identified to date have been hampered by poor bioavailability and adverse side effects. Integrated Biosciences was founded in 2022 to overcome these obstacles, target other neglected hallmarks of aging, and advance anti-aging drug development more generally using artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and other next-generation tools.

“One of the most promising routes to treat age-related diseases is to identify therapeutic interventions that selectively remove these cells from the body similarly to how antibiotics kill bacteria without harming host cells. The compounds we discovered display high selectivity, as well as the favorable medicinal chemistry properties needed to yield a successful drug,” said Satotaka Omori, Ph.D., Head of Aging Biology at Integrated Biosciences and joint first author of the publication. “We believe that the compounds discovered using our platform will have improved prospects in clinical trials and will eventually help restore health to aging individuals.”

Source:  https://www.businesswire.com/

Neuralink, the secretive firm has been relatively quiet since its first public event in July 2019, when Musk and his team explained how the firm plans to use chips to link human brains up to computers. On Tuesday, Musk revealed more details about the event via his Twitter page. The event is set to feature a “live webcast of a working Neuralink device,” giving the public its first glimpse of the device in action. The stream is scheduled to take place on FRIDAY, AUGUST 28 AT 3 P.M. PACIFIC TIME, or 12 p.m. Eastern time.

The motto hints at one of Musk’s biggest goals with Neuralink. While it’s currently focused on creating chips that could help medical patients, Musk has spoken before about his fear that artificial intelligence could one day outsmart humanity. Neuralink, Musk reasons, could help humans more effectively communicate with these smarter systems, and develop a symbiotic relationship with machines.

“It’s important that Neuralink solves this problem sooner rather than later, because the point at which we have digital superintelligence, that’s when we pass the singularity and things become just very uncertain,” Musk said in a November 2019 interview.

It’s an ambitious goal, but Musk has hinted that Friday’s event will be a more grounded affair. That doesn’t mean there won’t be surprises in store, however, and Musk’s comments suggest it could offer something spectacular.

Source: https://www.inverse.com/