Friday, March 22, 2019 - Today Insilico Medicine, an artificial intelligence 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 Dr. Johan Auwerx, M.D., Ph.D., Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the 6th Aging Research, Drug Discovery, and AI Forum during the Basel Life Congress, September 10-12, 2019, Basel, Switzerland.
Dr. Johan Auwerx will give a talk titled "A novel approach for NAD boosting" presenting a new scientific method to boost NAD+ content by stimulating its de novo biosynthesis.
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD*) has recently evolved from a single oxidoreductase cofactor to being an essential cosubstrate for a wide range of regulatory proteins including the sirtuins, a family of NAD*-dependent protein deacylases. Beneficial effects of increased NAD+ levels and subsequently enhanced sirtuin activity on mitochondrial homeostasis, organismal metabolism and lifespan have now been well established across different species and thus stimulated the interest in approaches aiming to raise NAD+ content.
"We show that the enzyme α-amino-β-carboxymuconate-ε-semialdehyde decarboxylase (ACMSD) plays a crucial role in the control of the intracellular NAD+ levels. By using both genetic and pharmacological tools we found that reduction of ACMSD activity boosts de novo NAD+ synthesis. Through its impact on cellular NAD+ levels and SIRT1 activity, ACMSD inhibition promotes mitochondrial function, but, most importantly, possesses a high therapeutic potential for preservation of hepatic and renal function from injury, given the restricted ACMSD expression to these tissues. As a case in point, we have developed potent and selective ACMSD inhibitors, which provided striking protection against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and acute kidney injury in mice," said Dr. Johan Auwerx, M.D., Ph.D., Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland.
"Over the last 5 years, the "Aging & Drug Discovery" and "AI for Healthcare" forums have been leading events at BaselLife, attracting hundreds of delegates from over 50 countries. This year, we are combining the 2 platforms into a 3 day-event titled "the 6th Aging, 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.
"It is our great pleasure to present Professor Johan Auwerx, EPFL Lausanne, as a speaker at the Aging, Drug Discovery and Artificial Intelligence meeting in Basel. Professor Auwerx has been critical for our understanding of aging particularly focusing on NAD metabolism in aging. He is a global leader in the field and has contributed with many seminal discoveries linking loss of NAD to the aging process and has further described how we can target NAD to extend mammalian lifespan. It is therefore an unquestionable honor that Professor Auwerx has chosen to join our meeting and we look forward to his exciting talk," said Morten Scheibye-Knudsen, MD, Ph.D., University of Copenhagen.
"The 6th annual Aging 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 aging 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 Aging Research for Drug Discovery Forum Basel will bring together leaders in the aging, longevity, and drug discovery field, to describe the latest progress in the molecular, cellular and organismal basis of aging 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: aging. The Forum will be held in Basel, Switzerland, September 10-12, 2019.
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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:/
About Basel Life 2019
Aging Research for Drug Discovery Forum description
In this symposium, leaders in the aging, longevity, and drug discovery field will describe the latest progress in the molecular, cellular and organismal basis of aging 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: aging. 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:/
About EPFL
EPFL is Europe's most cosmopolitan technical university. It welcomes students, professors and collaborators of more than 120 nationalities. EPFL has both a Swiss and international vocation and focuses on three missions: teaching, research and innovation.
EPFL collaborates with an important network of partners, including other universities and colleges, secondary schools and gymnasiums, political circles and the general public, with the aim of having a real impact on society.
EPFL official website: https:/
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 aging 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 aging in model organisms. These findings suggest that normal aging 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.
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.
