Layla Hosseini-Gerami

Here, our team Candesic write about the rise of #robots in the #pharma industry. With my colleague Dr Leonid Shapiro, I explore how pharma is investing large amounts of money in robots to improve efficiency. https://lnkd.in/e7BR3isi #lifesciences #robotics #AI #pharmaceuticalindustry #healthcare #manufacturing

9

Hi LinkedInVerse, Interested to get people's thoughts on this news story? As many in the Medical Devices, Biotech and Drug Discovery sectors has noticed over the last year, funding/investments have not been released, even when promised and contracts signed. I've noticed a little upturn in roles recently, which hopefully means funding/investments are now being released, is this other people's recent experience? I wish any of the political parties were talking more specifically about this, and hopefully this think tank may make them do this. https://lnkd.in/eizJ6s9Q #Investment #MedicalDevices #Biotech #DrugDiscovery IPPR #TheInstituteforPublicPolicyResearch

2

Here's a weekend read for all my scientists! 📑 For those who aren't familiar with my profile (and how much I love these little molecules) nanobodies are tiny antibody fragments derived from camelid immune systems, such as llamas or camels. They're much smaller than conventional antibodies, which makes them very useful in various biomedical applications. The article by Steeland, Vandenbroucke and Libert, breaks down what nanobodies are and talks about all these different therapeutic applications. What are your thoughts? 🔬 #recruiter #nanobodies #singledomainantibodies #antibodies #researchanddevelopment #biotech

30

6 Comments

40% of people receiving targeted chemotherapy are hospitalised by the side effects. We've started Siftr Bio to change this. 🎯 Backed by US investors Endeavor8, Wilbe, and Cancer Research UK (CRUK), we focus on precision therapies that activate specifically in tumors with minimal side effects. 🙏 Supportive groups in academic institutions are key to enable spinouts such as Siftr to actually get off the ground - particular thanks go to Anna Barnard, Ed Tate, and Aidan Pidd for their encouragement and support. Finally, thanks to BioIndustry Association (BIA) , Pioneer Group and Cancer Tech Accelerator for their programmes. 🔎 To learn more about what we're building, check out Siftr Bio.

124

3 Comments

🌱Green shoots are appearing across #Biosciences.... ...What am I talking about? 🤔 👉If you work in #Pharma or #Biotech, '23 and '24 was generally more about #surviving, whilst there have been pockets of #growth across the industry, especially in BioAI #Engineering, there are absolutely areas which have suffered... 🌟We're about eight weeks out from the new year (Where has 2024 gone?!😰), and companies are starting to look forward to 2025... ....We've got a range of #computational life sciences roles here at Umbilical Life which have been released to us, you can find on the link below👇 🫵If you're looking for a change in #2025, or want to be considered for up and coming roles - get in touch!! #LifeSciences #Bioinformatics #Cheminformatics #BioAI #Sequencebiology #StructuralBiology #DL #ML #FoundationModels #LLMS #BioEngineering

32

4 Comments

For those of you looking for networking events, here's another one to consider!

9

Can robots unravel the mystery of why bacteria are beating our best antibiotics?   Oxford University researchers are building AI-powered machines to monitor the superbug infections behind the ‘silent pandemic’   Termed the ‘silent pandemic’, AMR currently claims 1.2 million lives annually, with projections suggesting this figure could rise to 10 million by 2050, equalling the death toll from cancer and surpassing those from malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis combined.   https://lnkd.in/eztAfYpT   Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACXP) is a publicly held, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of #antibiotics for infections caused by bacteria listed as priority pathogens by the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Food and Drug Administration. #nasdaq #acxp #antibiotics #acurx Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACXP) David Luci

11

Here is an article from 8 years ago, where I had proposed a Bayesian Regularization scheme as a provocation to be used in Deep Learning. I have memories of the amount of time I used to spend on beautifying the math 🤣 For the past 20 years (way before LLMs), I’ve been writing math articles and blogs. In the beginning I used to engage in the tedious task of using LaTeX scripts to format equations. Later for nearly a decade, I relied on Microsoft Equation Editor, which felt like a step up at the time, but still time consuming. Now, I just scribble equations on my iPad and let ChatGPT convert them. It’s simple and works remarkably well, making the process much more efficient. This lets me "fly" compared to the amount of time I used to invest in writing my blogs. The same goes in editing the blog. The editorial work "post-writing" was kept aside for weekends (I jokingly used to call it post production). Now, with chatGPT, I just paste the narrative and let it fix the grammar, spelling and style (professional tone). I can write an article on the same day of the thought, finish the code, text, math and editing it and publish, all on the same day (unless it requires deep research). ChatGPT has made publishing incredibly efficient. If you are not using LLMs for your publishing, you are missing out. It is not an "accomplishment" to avoid using LLMs for production. Quite frankly, I find it inefficient when people don’t leverage LLMs enough to share their knowledge with the world. #Math #AI #Innovation

4

A few thoughts to share! Sometimes I don't shout loud enough, so please spare me a few minutes for this message 🙂 I know you have a choice of testing labs. XCellR8 is the leading UK-based, GLP in vitro testing lab for the cosmetics and chemical industries. But we're more than a testing lab! Our passion and commitment to replace animal testing with human relevant science, for both scientific and ethical reasons, drives everything that we do. We're not paying lip service to the topic, it's at the very core of who we are. We started 16 years ago when the landscape for "alternatives" (now an outdated word!) was very, very different. In vitro testing wasn't mainstream and our commitment to a completely animal product free approach was considered radical and "unrealistic". We've been trailblazers and are so excited to see the increase in support for this topic in recent years. Just as in any area of life, where you choose to spend your budget for testing can make a huge difference. Please support us as we look to expand our work, and keep up the trailblazing one day at a time, until animal testing is consigned to history in favour of new approach methodologies! Please feel free to share our message with relevant colleagues and contacts 🙏 #xcellr8 #xcellr8labs #redefiningtesting #animalfreetesting #producttesting #safetytesting #cosmeticstesting #crueltyfree #vegan

60

Testing out new Chat GPT 4.0... It's remarkably good at summarising and producing structured answers. Hey Chap GTP, What impact do you think iPSCs will have on ALS drug discovery? ChatGPT Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are expected to significantly impact amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) drug discovery in several key ways: Disease Modeling: iPSCs can be generated from patients with ALS and differentiated into motor neurons, the cell type primarily affected by the disease. This allows researchers to create patient-specific models of ALS in the lab. These models are invaluable for studying disease mechanisms and for screening potential drug candidates in a context that closely mimics human pathology. Personalized Medicine: Because iPSCs can be derived from individual patients, they facilitate the study of genetic variability in ALS. Researchers can explore how different genetic mutations contribute to the disease and how patients with different genetic backgrounds respond to treatments. This paves the way for personalized medicine approaches, where treatments can be tailored to the genetic profile of individual patients. High-Throughput Drug Screening: iPSC-derived neurons can be used in high-throughput screening to test thousands of compounds for potential therapeutic effects. This approach can rapidly identify promising drug candidates that can then be further validated in more complex models and eventually in clinical trials. Understanding Disease Mechanisms: iPSCs provide a platform for investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying ALS. By differentiating iPSCs into various neural cell types, scientists can study the interactions between motor neurons, astrocytes, and other cell types involved in ALS pathology. This comprehensive understanding is crucial for identifying new therapeutic targets. Testing Drug Toxicity and Efficacy: iPSC-derived motor neurons can be used to test the toxicity and efficacy of drug candidates before they enter clinical trials. This helps ensure that only the most promising and safest drugs move forward in the drug development pipeline, potentially reducing the time and cost associated with bringing new therapies to market. In summary, iPSCs offer a versatile and powerful tool for ALS drug discovery. They enable the creation of disease models that closely replicate human pathology, facilitate personalized medicine, support high-throughput drug screening, improve our understanding of disease mechanisms, and offer new avenues for testing drug safety and efficacy. These advantages collectively accelerate the pace of discovery and increase the likelihood of finding effective treatments for ALS. #ipscs #chatgpt

30

2 Comments

Haiqu has release Rivet, an open source toolkit set to transform quantum programming. Why is this important? - Riven cuts down the time to transpile from hours to munitues - It provides greater control to developers over transpilation, supporting both Qiskit, PyKet and BQSkit - Available for the wider community to use and contribute to on GitHub This will have the greatest impact in research areas like Quantum Machine Learning and Error Mitigation, opening up new possibilities for efficiency and development. #QuantumComputing #OpenSource #TechInnovation #MachineLearning #QuantumMachineLearning #ErrorMitigation

3

🚀 Technologies to Watch in 2025 🧬 As we move into 2025, there are a lot of technologies set to make an impact within the biotech and pharma world (and beyond) but these are the ones I’d be keeping an eye on: 🔬 Molecular Editing: Enables precise modifications to existing molecules, effectively ‘swapping out’ different atoms rather than having to go through a long synthetic process. Think of it almost like CRISPR for organic chemistry. As an ex-chemist this feels particularly groundbreaking. ✂️ CRISPR-Based Therapeutics: CRISPR technology is transforming drug discovery, offering potential cures for genetic disorders, cancers, and more. With Casgevy approved and multiple other trials ongoing from Phase 1-3 it feels like the next generation of medicines is just round the corner. 🧬 Omniomics: The next frontier in single-cell analysis, omniomics integrates multiple omics data to provide a comprehensive view of human biology, accelerating drug innovation and precision medicine by providing the ‘full picture’ of biological processes. 💻 Quantum Computing: 2025 has been declared the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology and ever more powerful quantum computing will be making strides in real-world applications, especially in areas such as modelling protein-ligand binding. 💡 AI Data Quality: As AI evolves, the focus is on high-quality, specialized datasets crucial for optimizing AI outcomes in scientific research and those companies who can do this best are going to stand out from the pack. #Innovation #DrugDiscovery #MolecularEditing #AI #CRISPR #QuantumComputing #Omniomics #FutureOfScience #Biotech #Pharma #Sustainability #clinicaltrial #science #research

17

2 Comments

This latest episode was inspired by the upcoming biosecurity regulations in the USA. I did some research on the topic to provide information regarding China, USA, UK and the EU. I hope you will find it interesting. #clinicalresearch #genomicdata #biosecurity

1

There are currently estimated to be 982,000 people living with dementia in the UK and this is projected to rise to 1.4 million in 2040. CHASE are currently partnering with a UK based CNS Biotech specialising in Alzheimers,' who are currently consolidating UK operations across multiple R&D functions. Along with all other Alzheimers' focused Biotech organisations, their working methodology is both interesting and complex. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative condition that leads to dementia. Despite significant progress in understanding the disease over the last 15 years, drug development for AD has proven to be particularly challenging. Understanding the Disease One of the major challenges in AD drug development is the incomplete understanding of AD pathogenesis. The disease is multifactorial with a complex pathophysiology. Several studies support the notion that AD is a multifactorial disease. This complexity makes it difficult to identify effective therapeutic targets. Drug Efficacy and Toxicity A further challenge is that many drugs tested for AD have lacked sufficient target engagement or had toxic effects. This has led to numerous failures in drug development efforts. Slow Progression and Comorbidity The slowly progressive nature of AD and the high level of comorbidity occurring in the elderly population also pose significant challenges. These factors make it difficult to assess the effectiveness of potential treatments in clinical trials. Clinical Trial Environment Speeding up clinical development, particularly in Phase 2 and 3, requires innovation and improvement in study design and trial execution, as well as more effective recruitment measures and disease detection/monitoring. Future Directions Despite these challenges, there is hope for the future. The field is diversifying in terms of targets and treatment modalities, while amyloid-targeting therapies remain a prominent avenue of development. To further advance AD drug development, novel companion diagnostics are needed that are directed at disease mechanisms related to genetic risk factors of AD, both for patient stratification and assessment of therapeutic efficacy in clinical trials1. For further details about the growth of the R&D function within this well established, UK based, CNS focused Biotech please contact Paul S. at CHASE on 07468 476493 or e-mail [email protected]

17

From personalised genetic medicine in treating cardiac diseases, to CAR-T finally cracking solid tumours & gender + ethnicity diversity in clinical trials... the confidence is back & here to stay for 2025. What are your predictions for the year ahead?

10

3 Comments

I am incredibly proud to announce that we have been awarded a £1.6M project from Innovate UK’s Biomedical Catalyst 2023 Round 2: Industry-led R&D 🙌 This application took a tremendous amount of effort, including working well into the early hours of many mornings to perfect the initial submission and cancelling leave over Christmas to prepare for the interview stage. Innovate UK grants (rightly!) require significant work; the application is scrutinised by five experienced assessors from various areas across Life Sciences. The next-stage interview is then attended by up to ten other people, with our panel including professionals from the NHS, academia, and CDMOs, among others. With a pot of £17.8M, and average project cost at £415,191, only 30 of the 358 applications could be funded 💰 . It is therefore truly gratifying to have so many experts agree that the cause we are developing solutions for is important and worthy of this substantial investment ✊ We do not take this funding lightly and will work tirelessly to ensure the success of our exciting project. Time to get cracking! https://lnkd.in/ev58aTt8 #biomedicalcatalyst #healthcare #infantmicrobiome #microbiome #grantfunding #grants #investment #innovateuk #biotech

465

54 Comments

🥂 Celebrating another UKB-PPP publication. Changing the world 👨🏽‍⚕️ 🌍! 📢 Check out the numbers of findings 👇🏽 👹 With all the scary bots, deep fakes, and other AI-related craziness, it’s wonderful to see cancer researchers using AI and machine learning for good. 😇 🖥 An in-silico interrogation of the UKB-PPP dataset by Papier et al. identified predictive risk markers for 19 different forms of cancer. Although the findings are limited to univariate protein-cancer associations with moderate predictive values, the headline figures have caught the attention of the mainstream media - 618 protein-cancer associations, corresponding to 371 different proteins, where 107 retained significance >7 years prior to diagnosis. The research, published in Nature Communications, delves into the investigation of potential observational and genetic protein-cancer risk associations using data from the UK Biobank. They discovered multiple blood protein-cancer risk associations, some detectable more than seven years before cancer diagnosis. This groundbreaking work highlights the potential role of these proteins in cancer development and signifies a significant step towards risk stratification and early diagnosis. For further information: DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48017-6 https://lnkd.in/e2ysQafb #CancerResearch #AI #MachineLearning #ProteinCancerAssociations #UKBiobank #NatureCommunications

12