DeepTarget tool uncovers primary and secondary drug targets across cancer types

One of the first ways in which this would be really felt by patients is through the repurposing of existing drugs for new diseases. Clearly, even though one could improve the process in a number of ways in terms of speeding up medicinal chemistry programs and potentially speeding up the amount of things such as toxicity trials etc., that is still going to take time. However, if we can take existing drugs, perhaps drugs which have gone off patent or are currently being marketed for another indication, and repurpose them in areas where there are high unmet medical needs, those drugs could go into that new indication in phase 2 in patients and you would know very quickly whether the drug worked or not. Then the route to market or the route to being able to make the drug more broadly available to patients would be much more rapid because you don't have to go through all those earlier stages of toxicity, testing, phase 1 testing, volunteers and so on.

There are no targeted treatments approved for pancreas cancer, and we haven't had any significant progress for a long time. We've only come up with different chemotherapy combinations, and those are only moderately effective. This new treatment is staggeringly better than chemotherapy. Usually, when we think of an improvement in pancreatic cancer survival, we think of 25% improvement. This medication actually doubled survival in patients with advanced disease. We have patients who participated in the trial who are still alive, which is unheard of because the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer patients is only 13%-14%. If the drug is approved by the FDA, it will most likely become the new standard of care for advanced pancreatic cancer and could replace chemotherapy as a first-line treatment.

Biologically, vitamins are absorbed within hours and have instant metabolic effects, such as antioxidants that protect cells or compounds that are building blocks for making hormones. But, many factors impact their efficiency and could keep your body from fully absorbing them. Absorption and effects depend on each individual and what combination of vitamins they take. Gender, age, digestive health, medical conditions, and diet all play a role. One helpful practice to detect deficiencies is to look for the symptoms deficiencies create. Then, look for improvement in your symptoms with supplement intake. You are unlikely to see or feel changes if you do not lack nutrients. If you are chronically tired or see signs of unhealthy nails, hair, or skin, supplements may help as these are indicators that you are lacking nutrients in your diet. If you are unsure, your doctor can order tests to check for deficiencies in your blood.

Having worked across different parts of the discovery process, I think broad exposure changes the way you think. I have developed quantum chemistry, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) methods in research settings, but I have also had the chance to apply them in real discovery environments for materials and pharmaceuticals. That experience has shown me how different parts of the discovery pipeline interact, what their motivations are, and how they communicate. AI and ML have been used in early discovery for many years, but the biggest recent shift is in areas dominated by human processes and communication. Computers can now interact directly with human language and analytical images, opening new applications such as AI research assistants and AI-assisted dossier drafting. That means AI can start to work more collaboratively with scientists, although expert oversight and guardrails remain essential. In nonclinical safety, I think the biggest impact will be AI working alongside safety scientists to unearth key data, connect safety science with earlier discovery and later clinical work, and help process, predict, and summarize important outcomes. That could help safety science integrate more tightly with design, make, and test cycles in discovery, while also interfacing earlier with clinical science. Save a Copy of This Exclusive Interview by Downloading the Free PDF

Algae are photosynthetic aquatic creatures that grow through the consumption of nutrients, light, and carbon dioxide. They are a diverse group of creatures that include tiny single-celled algae and enormous kelp, as well as seaweed 1. Numerous prokaryotic and eukaryotic algae species are desirable food sources for humans due to their inherent qualities 2,3. Human intake of macroalgae such as seaweed and microalgae like phytoplankton dates back many years. Multicellular macroscopic aquatic plants, or macroalgae, are classified into three taxa: Phaeophyceae, or brown algae, Rhodophyta or red algae, and Chlorophyta or green algae. Microalgae, the unicellular counterpart of macroalgae, are categorized in a broader framework that includes prokaryotic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), Euglenophyta, and Chlorophyta, which are genetically distinct from one another. The ancient populations of Chad and the Aztec culture were already familiar with the cyanobacteria spirulina, which is currently advertised as a superfood in the West 4. In Burma, Vietnam, and India, other cyanobacteria/microalgae, like Spirogyra and Oedogonium, were eaten as food or as a supplement 4. Seaweed is a staple of daily meals in many Asian and Pacific civilizations, including Korea, Japan, and Indonesia, as well as Hawaii and New Zealand 5.