KnowDis, IIT Delhi chemical engineering dept tie up for AI model for drug discovery

PTI, Apr 29, 2022, 4:01 PM IST

New Delhi: AI products company KnowDis and IIT Delhi’s chemical engineering department have joined hands to develop artificial intelligence-based models that could help discover drugs for treating brain diseases, a statement said on Friday.

The collaboration aims to develop an algorithm that will predict, with high-throughput, antibodies effective in treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s, KnowDis said in a statement. The development of such a high-throughput algorithm will be an advancement over the current algorithms, which are slow. The end goal of the algorithm would be to narrow down the antibody candidates that have a much higher chance of being experimentally validated, according to the statement.

This will result in medicines becoming more affordable, it said, adding that it will also lead to quicker development of effective therapies for dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease, reducing the long wait for treatment. The process of designing and producing antibodies is time-consuming and expensive but an algorithm can add value to channelling laboratory work, it said. KnowDis is an AI products company founded by Saurabh Singal, a computer scientist from IIT Delhi and Carnegie Mellon.