Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - Today Insilico Medicine, a biotechnology company developing the end-to-end drug discovery pipeline utilizing the next generation artificial intelligence, and the Scheibye-Knudsen Lab, University of Copenhagen, announce the presentation of Cornelis F. Calkhoven, Ph.D., Professor at the University Medical Center of the University of Groningen and principal investigator at the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA), at the 6th Ageing Research, Drug Discovery, and AI Forum during the Basel Life Congress, September 10-12, 2019, Basel, Switzerland.

Ageing is associated with physical decline and the development of age-related diseases such as metabolic disorders and cancer. Few conditions are known that attenuate the adverse effects of ageing, including calorie restriction (CR) and reduced signalling through the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway. Synthesis of the metabolic transcription factor C/EBPβ-LIP is stimulated by mTORC1, which critically depends on a short upstream open reading frame (uORF) in the Cebpb-mRNA. Our studies demonstrate a crucial role of C/EBPβ in the aging process and suggest that restriction of LIP expression sustains health and fitness during ageing. The presentation will also give insights to the therapeutic strategies inhibiting the translation into the LIP isoform that may offer new possibilities to treat age-related diseases and to prolong healthspan.

"The C/EBPβ transcription factors are involved in metabolic gene regulation, and health and lifespan regulation. The translation of the Cebpb-mRNA into the C/EBPβ-LIP protein isoform is under control of mTORC1. Suppression of C/EBPβ-LIP mediates part of the beneficial effects of reduced mTORC1-signaling by calorie /dietary restriction or pharmacological inhibition. Therefore, drug-discovery in inhibiting C/EBPβ-LIP expression may result in new strategies for increasing health in the elderly and treatment of obesity and/or cancer," said Professor Calkhoven, the European Research Institute on the Biology of Aging (ERIBA). 

"We are very excited that Professor Cornelis Calkhoven from the European Research Institute on the Biology of Aging (ERIBA) has decided to visit our conference this year in Basel. Professor Calkhoven has contributed strongly to our understanding of cellular metabolism on aging. Recently, his research group unraveled the age-delaying effect of the functional loss of the mTOR regulated transcription factor C/EBPβ. Their results may open a new avenue to modulate one of the key modulator pathways of aging. We are therefore extremely thrilled to welcome Professor Calkhoven in Basel and are looking forward to his fascinating talk," said Dr. Daniela Bakula, University of Copenhagen.

"Over the last 5 years, the "Ageing & Drug Discovery" and "AI for Healthcare" forums have been leading events at Basel Life, attracting hundreds of delegates from over 50 countries. This year, we are combining the 2 platforms into a 3 day-event titled "the 6th Ageing, AI and Drug Discovery Forum" to explore the convergence of these 2 cutting edge disciplines. Under the program leadership of Professor Morten Scheibye-Knudsen and Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, with distinguished scientists and industry experts in the field, we look forward to exploring breakthroughs for this great healthcare need for the planet," said Dr. Bhupinder Bhullar, Chair, Innovation Forum program committee, Basel Life 2019. 

"The 6th annual Ageing Research, Drug Discovery, and AI Forum at Basel Life will have a fresh program featuring some of the most prominent scientists and industry players in ageing and longevity research covering the theory, applications and convergence of these three exciting areas," said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., Founder, and CEO of Insilico Medicine, Inc.

The 6th Ageing Research for Drug Discovery Forum Basel will bring together leaders in the ageing, longevity, and drug discovery field, to describe the latest progress in the molecular, cellular and organismal basis of ageing and the search for interventions. Furthermore, the forum will include opinion leaders in AI to discuss the latest advances of this technology in the biopharmaceutical sector and how this can be applied to interventions. This event intends to bridge academic and commercial research and foster collaborations that will result in practical solutions to one of humanity's most challenging problems: ageing. The Forum will be held in Basel, Switzerland, September 10-12, 2019. 

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For further information, images or interviews, please contact: Ola Popova ola@pharma.ai

About Cornelis Calkhoven

Cornelis Calkhoven is a professor for gene regulation in ageing and age-related diseases at the University Medical Center of the University of Groningen and principal investigator at the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA). He studied biology and chemistry at the University of Groningen, where he also received his PhD-degree in 1996. As a Marie Curie Postdoctoral fellow, he then moved to the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin, where in 2000 he was rewarded with a Helmholtz fellowship to start his own research group. At the MDC he identified factors and mRNA-regulatory elements that control translation of key factors in cellular differentiation and cancer. In 2005 he moved to the Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena where he established a research program to study common regulatory mechanisms in ageing, metabolism and cancer. The main focus of the Calkhoven laboratory is understanding the mechanisms of gene-regulation that are under control of the nutrient and energy sensitive mTORC1 signaling pathway and its involvement in health- and lifespan determination. 

About ERIBA

The European Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA) is part of the University Medical Center (UMCG) of the University of Groningen. Research at ERIBA focuses on the discovery of fundamental mechanisms of ageing, and their involvement in age-related diseases. The ultimate aim is to contribute to the development of new strategies to prevent age-related diseases and to provide evidence-based recommendations for healthy ageing. ERIBA Labs with complementary expertise, using different model organisms and technology platforms work together and with external partners to accelerate discoveries in the ageing field. 

Official website: http://eriba.umcg.nl/

About Insilico Medicine, Inc

Insilico Medicine is an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Rockville, with R&D and management resources in Belgium, Russia, UK, Taiwan, and Korea sourced through hackathons and competitions. The company and its scientists are dedicated to extending human productive longevity and transforming every step of the drug discovery and drug development process through excellence in biomarker discovery, drug development, digital medicine, and ageing research.

In 2017, NVIDIA selected Insilico Medicine as one of the Top 5 AI companies in its potential for social impact. In 2018, the company was named one of the global top 100 AI companies by CB Insights. In 2018 it received the Frost & Sullivan 2018 North American Artificial Intelligence for Ageing Research and Drug Development Award accompanied with the industry brief. Brief company video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62jlwgL3v8. 

Official website: http://insilico.com

About the Scheibye-Knudsen Laboratory

The growing proportion of the elderly population represents an increasing socioeconomic challenge, not least because of age-associated diseases. It is therefore increasingly pertinent to find interventions for age-associated diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cardiovascular diseases. Although the cause of ageing is currently unknown accumulation of damage to our genome, the DNA, may be a contributing factor. In the Scheibye-Knudsen lab we try to understand the cellular and organismal consequences of DNA damage with the aim of developing interventions. We have discovered that DNA damage leads to changes in certain metabolites and that replenishment of these molecules may alter the rate of ageing in model organisms. These findings suggest that normal ageing and age-associated diseases may be malleable to similar interventions. The hope is to develop interventions that will allow everyone to live healthier, happier and more productive lives.

Laboratory website: http://scheibye-knudsen.com/

About the University of Copenhagen

With over 40,000 students and more than 9,000 employees, the University of Copenhagen is the largest institution of research and education in Denmark and among the highest ranked universities in Europe. The purpose of the University - to quote the University Statute - is to 'conduct research and provide further education to the highest academic level'. Approximately one hundred different institutes, departments, laboratories, centres, museums, etc., form the nucleus of the University.

University Website: http://introduction.ku.dk/presentation/

About Basel Life 2019 

Ageing Research for Drug Discovery Forum description

In this symposium, leaders in the ageing, longevity, and drug discovery field will describe the latest progress in the molecular, cellular and organismal basis of ageing and the search for interventions. Furthermore, the forum will include opinion leaders in AI to discuss the latest advances of this technology in the biopharmaceutical sector and how this can be applied to interventions. This event intends to bridge academic and commercial research and foster collaborations that will result in practical solutions to one of humanity's most challenging problems: ageing. A panel of thought-leaders will give us their cutting edge reports on the latest progress in our quest to extend the healthy lifespan of everyone on the planet. Conference Official Website: https://www.basellife.org/2019.html

Semi-automated contracting system to accelerate partnering in AI-powered drug discovery

Partnership model between artificial intelligence (AI) development companies and 'Big Pharma' provides legal template for accelerated drug discovery process worldwide

Tuesday, July 23 - One of the main impediments in partnerships between the AI companies and biotechnology companies is contracting. Legal contracts for target identification and small molecule generation can be incredibly complex, especially when the parties do not have experience in partnering on AI-powered projects. In 2018-2019 Insilico Medicine partnered with nearly a dozen biotechnology companies with varying needs and developed a portfolio of use cases. It often took longer to negotiate a contract than to perform the project and deliver the working molecules to the partner.

A project to develop a new and flexible partnering process for pharmaceutical companies and AI drug discovery platforms has the potential to dramatically speed up the time it currently takes for new drugs to reach the market and enable delivery of better medicines to patients.

Insilico Medicine, one of the leaders in AI-powered drug discovery retained Hill Dickinson in 2018 and 2019 to standardise documentation for the small and medium biotechnology companies as well as "Big pharma" and simplify the often-complex partnership process; and in doing so, help accelerate the drug discovery process.

The new standardised documentation will be integrated into the automated partnering system that is already in use by Insilico and will be refined and developed using machine learning.
Hill Dickinson commercial partner Michael Corcoran, who led on the project, said: "We were delighted to work with Insilico to develop a standardised partnership agreement of this type. Hill Dickinson's life science, health tech and commercial teams have a wealth of specialist expertise that combine to give us a deep understanding right across the market in which Insilico operates, specifically the bridge between established pharma companies and biotech and AI."
Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, said: "We believe our collaboration with Hill Dickinson is an industry first: the first time in AI for drug discovery that someone has developed a flexible partnering agreement that accurately reflects the multiple partnering options and provides the ability to structure the agreement in semi-automatic manner. We look forward to further collaboration on related projects."

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For further information please contact: Annette Parker, PR and Communications Manager, Hill Dickinson Email: annette.parker@hilldickinson.com Tel: +44 (0)151 600 8807
For further information please contact: Ola Popova, Press Officer, Insilico Medicine Email: ola@insilico.com
Notes to editors:

About Hill Dickinson
Hill Dickinson LLP is a leading and award-winning international commercial law firm with more than 840 people including 175 partners and legal directors, with offices in Liverpool, Manchester, London, Leeds, Piraeus, Singapore, Monaco and Hong Kong.
Hill Dickinson delivers advice and strategic guidance spanning the full legal spectrum. The firm acts as a trusted adviser to businesses, organisations and individuals across the globe and from a wide range of market sectors, advising on non-contentious advisory and transactional work through to all forms of commercial litigation and arbitration.
Hill Dickinson's network of international offices reflects the global nature of our work; the Monaco office focuses on the needs of our yacht and superyacht client base, and our offices in Piraeus, Singapore and Hong Kong specialise in the marine, trade and energy markets.
For further information about the firm, please visit hilldickinson.com
For the latest legal alerts and updates on the firm, follow Hill Dickinson on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hilldickinson
For the latest video blogs, follow Hill Dickinson on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/hilldickinsonvideos

About Insilico Medicine
Insilico Medicine is an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Hong Kong, with R&D and management resources in Belgium, Russia, UK, Taiwan, and Korea sourced through hackathons and competitions. The company and its scientists are dedicated to extending human productive longevity and transforming every step of the drug discovery and drug development process through excellence in biomarker discovery, drug development, digital medicine, and aging research.
Insilico pioneered the applications of the generative adversarial networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning for generation of novel molecular structures for the diseases with a known target and with no known targets. In addition to working collaborations with the large pharmaceutical companies, the company is pursuing internal drug discovery programs in cancer, dermatological diseases, fibrosis, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, diabetes, sarcopenia, and aging. Through a partnership with LifeExtension.com, the company launched a range of nutraceutical products compounded using the advanced bioinformatics techniques and deep learning approaches. It also provides a range of consumer-facing applications including Young.AI.
In 2017, NVIDIA selected Insilico Medicine as one of the Top 5 AI companies in its potential for social impact. In 2018, the company was named one of the global top 100 AI companies by CB Insights. In 2018 it received the Frost & Sullivan 2018 North American Artificial Intelligence for Aging Research and Drug Development Award accompanied with the industry brief. Brief company video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62jlwgL3v8.
For further information please visit https://insilico.com/

Scientists discover group of genes connected to longer life in fruit flies

E(z) longer life: New insights on genes linked to longer life and higher fertility

Thursday, July 18 - Alexey Moskalev, Ph.D., Head of the Laboratory of Geroprotective and Radioprotective technologies, and co-authors from the Institute of biology of Komi Science Center of RAS, the Engelgard's Institute of molecular biology of RAS and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology published a scientific article titled "Transcriptome Analysis of Long-lived Drosophila melanogaster E(z) Mutants Sheds Light on the Molecular Mechanisms of Longevity" in Nature Scientific Reports - the leading international multidisciplinary weekly journal.

Scientists are now closer to understanding how a genetic mutation found in a fruit fly could hold the key to a longer lifespan. Using genome-wide transcriptome analysis, the team noted that lifespan extension and stress resistance in fruit flies -- Drosophila -- carrying the E(z) histone methyltransferase heterozygous mutation, or the E(z) mutation, were correlated with changes in the expression levels of 239 genes. The expression levels of some of the genes were doubled in flies with the E(z) mutation.

According to the results of the study, the mutant flies had a 22 to 23 percent lifespan extension compared to the control group. In addition, these flies were more resistant to hyperthermia, oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress, which can disrupt processes designed to help cells stay healthy. The mutant flies were also more fertile, the researchers added.
E(z) genes appear connected with gene expression that affects metabolism, such as carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, drug metabolism and nucleotide metabolism. The expressions that related to aging were involved in pathways related to the immune response, cell cycle and ribosome biogenesis.

"The findings of the conducted research may be a step toward investigating whether the E(z) mutation could play a role in human longevity and have implications for understanding the role of global derepression of chromatin in aging," said Dr. Alexey Moskalev, Ph.D., Head of the Laboratory of Geroprotective and Radioprotective technologies.

The laboratory of geroprotector and radioprotector technologies of the Institute of Biology Komi SC UrB RAS is regularly publishing research papers in peer-reviewed journals. The laboratory's research is aimed at studying the molecular and genetic mechanisms of lifespan regulation, aging process, stress- and radioresistance. The scientific team succeeded in identifying several dozen genes with pro-longevity action. Geroprotective effects of various pharmacological agents, natural compounds, and plant extracts on aging-related signaling pathways, lifespan and physiological functions are being actively studied. Thanks to the members of the laboratory team, data libraries DrugAge and Geroprotectors.org have been created in collaboration with leading institutions of the world. In addition, studies on the influence of factors of different nature, primarily in small doses and concentrations, on lifespan and non-linear effects (such as hormesis and adaptive response) are being carried. All studies are conducted at a high scientific level with the use of modern methods of obtaining data, their statistical and bioinformatic analysis.

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For further information, images or interviews, please contact:
Alexey Moskalev
moskalev1976@gmail.com
Please follow the link below to read the article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45714-x?fbclid=IwAR1bKMmRmPPhz5Nm3qIkK60CXYi7nTpYv06LVPx-KYMx9VRQEUrh9mxLhGU
About the Institute of biology of Komi Science Center of RAS
The Institute of Biology of Komi Scientific Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IB Komi SC UB RAS) was founded in 1962. The Institute is the largest academic research centre of the East European part of Russia, with biology and ecology as two primary areas of research. The Institute consists of six departments and four laboratories, the Zoological museum, the Botanical garden and the Herbarium (SYKO). The main fields of research include the study of biodiversity, structural and functional organization, stability and productivity of taiga and tundra ecosystems, biological effects of ionizing radiation and other physico-chemical factors on cells, living organisms and natural ecosystems; problems of radiation and ecological genetics, as well as the development of methods for monitoring, bioindication; creation of inventories and databases of biological resources of the European North-East with the use of remote sensing and GIS technologies. The official website: https://ib.komisc.ru/en/

Scientists opening the door to a new era of medicinal chemistry

A new molecular descriptor estimates molecular complexity and defines the evolution of small molecules in medicinal chemistry

July 11, 2019 - Progress in the pharmaceutical industry depends largely on the achievements and advances in medicinal chemistry. Big pharma companies, which set the pace of the industry, can be regarded as major drivers of medicinal chemistry evolution. Since 2007 there has been a significant decline in the number of patent records involving new chemical entities, and many molecules observed during the HTS (High Throughput Screening) boom, were not considered attractive. Despite this, dominant methods and principles of organic chemistry have drastically evolved and resulted in building molecules with an increased 3D complexity.

Now, a team of researchers from the Medicinal Chemistry Department of Insilico Medicine have introduced the original descriptor MCE-18, which defines key features of "next-generation" molecules and traces the evolution of medicinal chemistry through the years. 

Yan Ivanenkov, Head of Medicinal Chemistry Department at Insilico Medicine, along with Bogdan Zagribelnyy, and Vladimir Aladinskiy, both scientists in the Medicinal Chemistry Department of Insilico Medicine, reported their findings on MCE-18 in the paper, "Are We Opening the Door to a New Era of Medicinal Chemistry or Being Collapsed to a Chemical Singularity?" in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

MCE-18 can be applied to assess the effectiveness of new molecules and may help researchers in designing new chemical entities that have great potential in modern drug development. 

"Equipped with the newly developed MCE-18 descriptor and in silico tools, we have clearly shown that molecules and scaffolds are becoming increasingly sophisticated with higher degrees of 3D complexity for compounds against various biological targets such as kinases, GPCRs and proteases. Pharma has become more qualitative and smarter. We can reasonably regard this as a novel turning point in chemical evolution and state that medicinal chemistry has ushered in a new era of drug design and development" said Ivanenkov.

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For further information, images or interviews, please contact:

Contact: Klug Gehilfe 
ai@pharma.ai

Please follow the link to read the article: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b00004

About Insilico Medicine, Inc

Insilico Medicine is an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Hong Kong, with R&D and management resources in Belgium, Russia, UK, Taiwan, and Korea sourced through hackathons and competitions. The company and its scientists are dedicated to extending human productive longevity and transforming every step of the drug discovery and drug development process through excellence in biomarker discovery, drug development, digital medicine, and aging research.

Insilico pioneered the applications of the generative adversarial networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning for the generation of novel molecular structures for diseases with a known target and with no known targets. In addition to collaborating with large pharmaceutical companies, the Insilico is pursuing internal drug discovery programs in cancer, dermatological diseases, fibrosis, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, diabetes, sarcopenia, and aging. Through a partnership with LifeExtension.com, the company launched a range of nutraceutical products compounded using the advanced bioinformatics techniques and deep learning approaches. It also provides a range of consumer-facing applications including Young.AI.

In 2017, NVIDIA selected Insilico Medicine as one of the Top 5 AI companies in its potential for social impact. In 2018, the company was named one of the global top 100 AI companies by CB Insights. In 2018 it received the Frost & Sullivan Award accompanied with the industry brief. Website: http://insilico.com/

Thorsten Hoppe to present at the 6th Ageing Research for Drug Discovery Forum in Basel

Thorsten Hoppe, Ph.D., Head of the Research Laboratory on Ageing at the CECAD and Institute for Genetics, to present at the 6th Ageing Research for Drug Discovery Forum in Basel, Switzerland

Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - Today Insilico Medicine, a biotechnology company developing the end-to-end drug discovery pipeline utilizing the next generation artificial intelligence, and the Scheibye-Knudsen Lab, University of Copenhagen, announce the presentation of Thorsten Hoppe, Ph.D., Head of the Research Laboratory on Ageing at the CECAD and Institute for Genetics, at the 6th Ageing Research, Drug Discovery, and AI Forum during the Basel Life Congress, September 10-12, 2019, Basel, Switzerland.

Many age-associated disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, are associated with the collapse of proteostasis, ultimately caused by aggregation of excessive amounts of damaged proteins. This disastrous failure in proteostasis is triggered by a combination of disease-related mutations and environmental risk factors, which can overwhelm the limited capacity of the proteostasis network. Among a variety of environmental cues, food has been recognized for its multilayered impact in regulating proteostasis and organismal integrity.

Chronic malnutrition or high-calorie diets are associated with severe physiological alterations and often triggers the onset as well as affects the severity of age-associated diseases. However, the mechanistic consequences of varying diets and the impact on organismal health still remain largely unexplored. The underlying perception of food quality depends on sensory neurons that contain specialized receptors, which recognize various types of cues, including mechanical, thermal, gustatory, and olfactory stimuli. Intriguingly, our recent findings provide compelling evidence for proteostasis response mechanisms that are regulated by the smell of food-dependent odors.
The team of Professor Thorsten Hoppe at the Center for Research on Ageing (CECAD) has gained novel insights on how the smell of food affects physiology and ageing. Surprisingly, this relationship is due to a single pair of olfactory neurons. The smell of food induces a variety of physiological processes in our body. Thus, the production of saliva and digestive enzymes is stimulated before the actual food intake in order to prepare the gastrointestinal tract for the upcoming digestive process. In a healthy organism, this coordination depends on a dynamic balance between formation and degradation of proteins (proteostasis). Scientists of the Hoppe lab now succeeded in demonstrating the influence of food odors on proteostasis.

"The impact of odors at the cellular level is a poorly investigated field. It is well known that malfunctions in odor perception are associated with neurodegenerative diseases. We will further investigate the influence of the perception of odors on ageing-associated disorders such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease," said Thorsten Hoppe, Ph.D., Head of the Research Laboratory on Ageing at the CECAD and Institute for Genetics, Cologne, Germany.

"We are highly delighted that Professor Thorsten Hoppe from the Cluster of Excellence for Ageing Research at the University of Cologne is joining us in Basel this year. Professor Hoppe's rewarding research has contributed tremendously to our understanding of how organismal ageing is affected by protein homeostasis, a process that declines with age and contributes to neurodegeneration. Recently, Professor Hoppe's lab revealed a novel regulatory circuit in olfactory neurons that controls intestinal proteostasis and ageing in the model organism C.elegans. We are therefore very happy that Professor Thorsten Hoppe will visit us in Basel," said Dr. Daniela Bakula, University of Copenhagen.
"Over the last 5 years, the "Ageing & Drug Discovery" and "AI for Healthcare" forums have been leading events at Basel Life, attracting hundreds of delegates from over 50 countries. This year, we are combining the 2 platforms into a 3 day-event titled "the 6th Ageing, AI and Drug Discovery Forum" to explore the convergence of these 2 cutting edge disciplines. Under the program leadership of Professor Morten Scheibye-Knudsen and Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, with distinguished scientists and industry experts in the field, we look forward to exploring breakthroughs for this great healthcare need for the planet," said Dr. Bhupinder Bhullar, Chair, Innovation Forum program committee, Basel Life 2019.

"The 6th annual Ageing Research, Drug Discovery, and AI Forum at Basel Life will have a fresh program featuring some of the most prominent scientists and industry players in ageing and longevity research covering the theory, applications and convergence of these three exciting areas," said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., Founder, and CEO of Insilico Medicine, Inc.

The 6th Ageing Research for Drug Discovery Forum Basel will bring together leaders in the ageing, longevity, and drug discovery field, to describe the latest progress in the molecular, cellular and organismal basis of ageing and the search for interventions. Furthermore, the forum will include opinion leaders in AI to discuss the latest advances of this technology in the biopharmaceutical sector and how this can be applied to interventions. This event intends to bridge academic and commercial research and foster collaborations that will result in practical solutions to one of humanity's most challenging problems: ageing. The Forum will be held in Basel, Switzerland, September 10-12, 2019.

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For further information, images or interviews, please contact: Ola Popova ola@pharma.ai

About Thorsten Hoppe
Professor Hoppe heads the research laboratory on ageing at the CECAD and Institute for Genetics, Cologne Germany. His group has identified regulatory mechanisms that coordinate protein degradation systems and the ageing process. Many of their studies use the nematode C.elegans as a model system to study physiological aspects of selective protein turnover by the ubiquitin proteasome system and autophagy in the context of ageing-associated processes. By manipulating rates of proteolysis, his team was able to prevent loss of central muscle proteins and therefore extend muscle activity, or to prevent protein aggregation and extend lifespan.

About CECAD
CECAD's vision is to use the knowledge gained to develop new therapies for the entire spectrum of ageing-associated diseases, including cancer, diabetes, stroke, renal failure, and neurodegenerative disorders. CECAD creates new synergies through a novel network of innovative minds and ideas. More than 400 international scientists from the University of Cologne, the Cologne University Hospital, the Max Planck Institutes for Metabolism Research and Biology of Ageing, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) are exploring the molecular basis of the ageing process and age-associated diseases at the Cluster of Excellence.
Official Website: https://www.cecad.uni-koeln.de/home/

About Insilico Medicine, Inc
Insilico Medicine is an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Rockville, with R&D and management resources in Belgium, Russia, UK, Taiwan, and Korea sourced through hackathons and competitions. The company and its scientists are dedicated to extending human productive longevity and transforming every step of the drug discovery and drug development process through excellence in biomarker discovery, drug development, digital medicine, and ageing research.
In 2017, NVIDIA selected Insilico Medicine as one of the Top 5 AI companies in its potential for social impact. In 2018, the company was named one of the global top 100 AI companies by CB Insights. In 2018 it received the Frost & Sullivan 2018 North American Artificial Intelligence for Aging Research and Drug Development Award accompanied with the industry brief. Brief company video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62jlwgL3v8.
Website: http://insilico.com/

About the Scheibye-Knudsen Laboratory
The growing proportion of the elderly population represents an increasing socioeconomic challenge, not least because of age-associated diseases. It is therefore increasingly pertinent to find interventions for age-associated diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cardiovascular diseases. Although the cause of ageing is currently unknown accumulation of damage to our genome, the DNA, may be a contributing factor.
In the Scheibye-Knudsen lab we try to understand the cellular and organismal consequences of DNA damage with the aim of developing interventions. We have discovered that DNA damage leads to changes in certain metabolites and that replenishment of these molecules may alter the rate of ageing in model organisms. These findings suggest that normal ageing and age-associated diseases may be malleable to similar interventions. The hope is to develop interventions that will allow everyone to live healthier, happier and more productive lives.
Laboratory website: http://scheibye-knudsen.com/

About the University of Copenhagen
With over 40,000 students and more than 9,000 employees, the University of Copenhagen is the largest institution of research and education in Denmark and among the highest ranked universities in Europe. The purpose of the University - to quote the University Statute - is to 'conduct research and provide further education to the highest academic level'. Approximately one hundred different institutes, departments, laboratories, centres, museums, etc., form the nucleus of the University.
University Website: http://introduction.ku.dk/presentation/

About Basel Life 2019 

Ageing Research for Drug Discovery Forum description
In this symposium, leaders in the ageing, longevity, and drug discovery field will describe the latest progress in the molecular, cellular and organismal basis of ageing and the search for interventions. Furthermore, the forum will include opinion leaders in AI to discuss the latest advances of this technology in the biopharmaceutical sector and how this can be applied to interventions. This event intends to bridge academic and commercial research and foster collaborations that will result in practical solutions to one of humanity's most challenging problems: ageing. A panel of thought-leaders will give us their cutting edge reports on the latest progress in our quest to extend the healthy lifespan of everyone on the planet.
Conference Official Website: https://www.basellife.org/2019.html

Insilico Medicine to present at Oxford Global Webinar

Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, to present "Machine Learning: From Omics Data, Novel Targets and Biomarker development to Better Medicines" on a live Oxford Global Webinar

Monday, July 8, 2019 - Insilico Medicine, a biotechnology company developing the end-to-end drug discovery pipeline utilizing the next generation artificial intelligence, will present its latest results in modern and next-generation AI for drug discovery and productive longevity on a live Oxford Global Webinar on July 9th, at 2 pm BST. 

The Webinar was planned in the lead up to the 3rd Annual Artificial Intelligence in Drug Development Congress as part of the spotlight profiles series, in order to tell more about the speakers and the work they do. The event will take place in London, on September 25-26.

The Webinar will go live on the 9th of July 2019, at 2 PM BST.

The Webinar registration link will expire after the live webinar. If you are unable to register in time, please contact Danielle Dalby for a copy of the webinar recording d.dalby@oxfordglobal.co.uk

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform the pharmaceutical industry, making the hunt for new pharmaceuticals quicker and more effective. With AI comes the potential to improve drug approval rates, reduce development costs, and help patients comply with their treatments. At Insilico, AI has been used as a powerful tool to identify targets for drug development, and with the ability to simulate and accelerate research processes, artificial intelligence helps more drugs to be discovered and come to market quickly. The presentation will focus on the applications of deep adversarial networks and reinforcement learning for molecular de novo design and biomarker research. It will also briefly cover Insilico's drug discovery pipeline and platforms and present applications of machine learning to every step of preclinical drug discovery.

"Machine learning techniques, such as deep generative models and reinforcement learning optimization, play a pivotal role in developing new pharmaceuticals. I am very excited to share our vision and latest results with the audience of the upcoming Oxford Global webinar," said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine.

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For further information, images or interviews, please contact:

Contact: Klug Gehilfe

ai@pharma.ai

Website: http://insilico.com/

Insilico Medicine is regularly publishing research papers in peer-reviewed journals. The company was first to apply the generative adversarial networks (GANs) to the generation of the new molecular structures with the specified parameters and published a seminal peer-reviewed paper submitted in June 2016. The concept was further extended and augmented with advanced memory and reinforcement learning. One of the latest papers published in the Journals of Gerontologydemonstrated the application of the deep neural networks to assessing the biological age of the patients. The latest special issue in Molecular Pharmaceutics featured several research papers by Insilico Medicine. Insilico published an overview of its results in aging research including the development of AI aging biomarkers, target identification, cross-species comparison and geroprotector discovery in Aging Research Reviews, one of the highest-impact journals in the field.

About Insilico Medicine, Inc

Insilico Medicine is an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Rockville, with R&D and management resources in Belgium, Russia, UK, Taiwan, and Korea sourced through hackathons and competitions. The company and its scientists are dedicated to extending human productive longevity and transforming every step of the drug discovery and drug development process through excellence in biomarker discovery, drug development, digital medicine, and aging research.

Insilico pioneered the applications of the generative adversarial networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning for generation of novel molecular structures for the diseases with a known target and with no known targets. In addition to working collaborations with the large pharmaceutical companies, the company is pursuing internal drug discovery programs in cancer, dermatological diseases, fibrosis, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, diabetes, sarcopenia, and aging. Through a partnership with LifeExtension.com, the company launched a range of nutraceutical products compounded using the advanced bioinformatics techniques and deep learning approaches. It also provides a range of consumer-facing applications including Young.AI.

In 2017, NVIDIA selected Insilico Medicine as one of the Top 5 AI companies in its potential for social impact. In 2018, the company was named one of the global top 100 AI companies by CB Insights. In 2018 it received the Frost & Sullivan 2018 North American Artificial Intelligence for Aging Research and Drug Development Award accompanied with the industry brief. Brief company video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62jlwgL3v8.

Website: http://insilico.com/

Deep Aging Clocks: The emergence of AI-based biomarkers of aging and longevity

The advent of deep biomarkers of aging, longevity and mortality presents a range of non-obvious applications

July 3, 2019 - There are two kinds of age: chronological age, which is the number of years one has lived, and biological age, which is influenced by our genes, lifestyle, behaviour, the environment and other factors. Biological age is the superior measure of true age and is the most biologically relevant feature, as it closely correlates with mortality and health status. The search for reliable predictors of biological age has been ongoing for several decades, and until recently, largely without success. 

Since 2016 the use of deep learning techniques to find predictors of chronological and biological age has been gaining popularity in the aging research community. Advances in artificial intelligence, combined with the availability of large datasets, have led to a boom in the field, increasing the variety of biomarkers that could be considered candidates as potential age predictors. One promising development that considers multiple combinations of these different predictors could shed light on the aging process and provide further understanding of what contributes to healthy aging. 

In the paper titled "Deep Aging Clocks: The Emergence of AI-Based Biomarkers of Aging and Longevity" in CellTrends in Pharmacological Sciences, Polina Mamoshina, Senior Scientist at Insilico Medicine, and Alex Zhavoronkov, the Founder of Insilico Medicine, summarise current findings on the main types of deep aging clocks and their broad range of applications in pharmaceutical industry. 

"Humans are very good at guessing each other's age using images, videos, voice, and even smell. Deep neural networks can do it better and we can now interpret what factors are most important. Very often when someone looks older than their chronological age, they are sick. A trained doctor can guess the health status of a patient just by looking at him or her. At Insilico we developed a broad range of deep biomarkers of aging that can be used by the pharmaceutical and insurance companies, as well as by the longevity biotechnology community. In this paper we describe the recent progress in this emerging field and outline a range of non-obvious applications," said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D, Founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine.

Deep biological aging clocks can be used for data quality control, biological target identification and even the evaluation of the biological relevance and value of various data types and combinations. The recent perspective on the value of human data recently appeared in Cell Trends in Molecular Medicine. 

"Deep biomarkers of aging developed utilizing a variety of data types of aging are rapidly advancing the longevity biotechnology industry. Using biomarkers of aging to improve human health, prevent age-associated diseases and extend healthy life span is now facilitated by the fast-growing capacity of data acquisition, and recent advances in AI. They hold a great potential for changing not only aging research, but healthcare in general," said Polina Mamoshina, Senior Scientist at Insilico Medicine.

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For further information, images or interviews, please contact:

Contact: Klug Gehilfe 
ai@pharma.ai

Please follow the link to read the article: 

https://www.cell.com/trends/pharmacological-sciences/fulltext/S0165-6147(19)30114-2

About Insilico Medicine, Inc

Insilico Medicine is an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Rockville, with R&D and management resources in Belgium, Russia, UK, Taiwan, and Korea sourced through hackathons and competitions. The company and its scientists are dedicated to extending human productive longevity and transforming every step of the drug discovery and drug development process through excellence in biomarker discovery, drug development, digital medicine, and aging research.

Insilico pioneered the applications of the generative adversarial networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning for generation of novel molecular structures for the diseases with a known target and with no known targets. In addition to working collaborations with the large pharmaceutical companies, the company is pursuing internal drug discovery programs in cancer, dermatological diseases, fibrosis, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, diabetes, sarcopenia, and aging. Through a partnership with LifeExtension.com, the company launched a range of nutraceutical products compounded using the advanced bioinformatics techniques and deep learning approaches. It also provides a range of consumer-facing applications including Young.AI.

In 2017, NVIDIA selected Insilico Medicine as one of the Top 5 AI companies in its potential for social impact. In 2018, the company was named one of the global top 100 AI companies by CB Insights. In 2018 it received the Frost & Sullivan Award accompanied with the industry brief. Website: http://insilico.com/

After the collapse of the blockchain bubble a number of research organisations are developing platforms to enable individual ownership of life data and establish the data valuation and pricing models

June 27, 2019 - Recent advances in artificial intelligence and precision medicine led to the emergence of new businesses that trade and process human health data. Most pharmaceutical companies are acquiring large volumes of clinical and other data for research and marketing purposes. However, there are few examples of companies turning this data into new therapeutic products and it is difficult to estimate the potential benefits stemming from a specific data type or a combination. Unlike in finance, where there are established methods for pricing anything from money to complex derivative securities, there are no established models for estimating the value of human life data. 

One of the ways to develop the data economics models is to establish a marketplace for human life data where patients can take control of their data and profit from either the direct sale of this data, or share in the profits generated using this data. In the paper titled “The Advent of Human Life Data Economics” in Cell Trends in Molecular Medicine, George Church, a professor at Harvard Medical School and the co-founder of Nebula Genomics and Alex Zhavoronkov, the founder of Insilico Medicine present a concept of data economics with the multiple parameters impacting the value of human life data. The paper provides an overview of the blockchain-enabled platforms for exchanging medical records after the burst of the blockchain bubble. 

“In addition to these hack-resistant public ledgers, we have rapidly improving tools for whole genome sequencing and homomorphic encryption queries to deliver better privacy so that many people can finally benefit from knowing and owning their own genomes,” said George Church, Ph.D., Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and a founding member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.

The healthcare industry has increasingly adopted blockchain technologies for life data management to improve the quality, efficiency, and transparency of the health care system. The growth of electronic patient records has led to the artificial intelligence-based data analysis that can provide unprecedented insights into human health. Adopting big data technologies in the healthcare sector carries many benefits, but it also raises some barriers and challenges. 

With the continued growth of the blockchain technology within the healthcare system, data security, patient data privacy and the ability to manage consent and share data benefits with the patients, has become more vital than ever. Storing and processing medical data in the cloud, or the closed ecosystem, which prevents its illegal usage, blockchain technology can increase patients’ engagement by allowing them to make profit from the initial sale of the data.

“George Church pioneered many areas of science and technology and inspired three generations of scientists in multiple areas. This paper presents a call for new models for valuing human life data with the many proposed parameters. Leading economists and mathematicians are invited to collaborate on data pricing models in the context of human health. When human life data can be considered to be an asset in the context of financial accounting and can be easily traded, we are likely to see an explosion of data-driven biomedical innovation,” said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D, Founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine. 

For further information, images or interviews, please contact:

Contact: Klug Gehilfe ai@pharma.ai 

About Insilico Medicine, Inc

Insilico Medicine is an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Rockville, with R&D and management resources in Belgium, Russia, UK, Taiwan, and Korea sourced through hackathons and competitions. The company and its scientists are dedicated to extending human productive longevity and transforming every step of the drug discovery and drug development process through excellence in biomarker discovery, drug development, digital medicine, and aging research.

Insilico pioneered the applications of the generative adversarial networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning for generation of novel molecular structures for the diseases with a known target and with no known targets. In addition to working collaborations with the large pharmaceutical companies, the company is pursuing internal drug discovery programs in cancer, dermatological diseases, fibrosis, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, diabetes, sarcopenia, and aging. Through a partnership with LifeExtension.com, the company launched a range of nutraceutical products compounded using the advanced bioinformatics techniques and deep learning approaches. It also provides a range of consumer-facing applications including Young.AI.

In 2017, NVIDIA selected Insilico Medicine as one of the Top 5 AI companies in its potential for social impact. In 2018, the company was named one of the global top 100 AI companies by CB Insights. In 2018 it received the Frost & Sullivan Award accompanied with the industry brief.

Website: http://insilico.com/