Grants and Contributions:
Title:
Integrating AI, Fluidics, and Bioengineering for a Self-Driving Peptide Therapeutics Discovery Lab
Agreement Number:
1025435
Agreement Value:
$641,300.00
Agreement Date:
Dec 4, 2024 - Mar 31, 2026
Description:
Peptides are an increasingly effective and important drug modality that can serve to combine the advantages of small molecule drugs and large proteins. Yet, their discovery faces limitations in terms of cost and expertise, reducing access to drug discovery processes. Embracing in silico methods holds promise for revolutionizing biologic therapeutics discovery. However, high-quality training sets are rare, and training data must be generated specifically for each new drug target interaction. The goal of this project is to create a self-driving lab (SDL)-based discovery platform for peptides by combining droplet microfluidics, cell-free protein expression, and machine learning (ML)-guided design. This project will use split optical proteins, which are composed of two parts, a peptide and larger protein fragment, as well as insulin, as model peptides and targets for high-throughput screening. This platform will shift peptide discovery from manual to automated, accelerating the development of next-gen tools and drugs with broad applications in research and medicine.
Organization:
National Research Council Canada
Expected Results:
In the short term, anticipated outcomes will be strengthened collaborations across industry, academia, and government to support research excellence. In the medium term, anticipated outcomes will be the development of new and potentially disruptive technologies with collaborators. In the long term, find collaborative solutions to public policy challenges and create stronger innovation systems.
Location:
Toronto, Ontario, CA M5S 1S8
Reference Number:
172-2024-2025-Q4-1025435
Agreement Type:
Grant
Report Type:
Grants and Contributions
Recipient Business Number:
108162330
Recipient Type:
Academia
Recipient's Legal Name:
The Governing Council of the University of Toronto
Federal Riding Name:
University--Rosedale
Federal Riding Number:
35112
Program:
Collaborative Science, Technology and Innovation Program - Collaborative R&D Initiatives
Program Purpose:
Collaborate on multiparty research and development programs to catalyze transformative, high-risk, high-reward research with the potential for game-changing scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs in priority areas.
NAICS Code:
541710