Our collaboration with the Milner Therapeutics Institute has been expanded into a five year strategic partnership until 2026. This is great news as it means we can build on the work we’ve already done to identify new drug targets for a range of diseases that could ultimately help patients.
LifeArc and Milner’s computational research group, led by Dr Namshik Han, have been working closely together since we first announced the partnership in 2018.
Key achievements
So far, the team has made some great achievements:
- Worked together to create a bespoke artificial intelligence (AI) platform and computational pipeline to reveal new disease signatures and identified new targets
- Identified new disease signatures for six cancer types in the LifeArc programme
- Repositioned an existing LifeArc target as a potential therapeutic for cancer
- Uncovered hidden pathways and repositioned 200 approved drugs against COVID-19
Extending the collaboration means the teams will develop a bespoke AI platform and infrastructure that will revolutionise target identification and biomarker discovery. This platform will be used to:
- identify new therapeutic targets in a variety of diseases
- discover biomarkers to improve personalised medicine
- predict the efficacy and safety of new and existing drugs and identify existing drugs that could be repurposed.
Dr Dave Powell, LifeArc’s Chief Scientific Officer said:
“Our collaboration with the Milner Therapeutics Institute allows us to combine LifeArc’s translational expertise with the Milner’s cutting-edge bioinformatics. By continuing to work together, we can further our understanding of the fundamental biology of disease pathways that informs our patient-focused programmes.”
Dr Namshik Han, Head of Computational Research and AI at the Milner Therapeutics Institute said:
“This collaboration has benefited enormously from the expertise of the LifeArc team in drug discovery. We see great potential to now build on the database resources and pipelines we have created together and apply them to reveal new disease signatures in areas with high unmet medical need.”
Find out more
Read a recent joint publication from the LifeArc and Milner collaboration:
Han N et al. Science Advances doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abh3032 (2021).
Related news
New partnership in artificial intelligence and machine learning for target discovery announced
Read more: New partnership in artificial intelligence and machine learning for target discovery announced
New £4.25 million grant kick starts UK-wide collaborative research effort to end motor neuron disease
Read more: New £4.25 million grant kick starts UK-wide collaborative research effort to end motor neuron disease
LifeArc helps fund new research institute to accelerate the search for a cure for MND
Read more: LifeArc helps fund new research institute to accelerate the search for a cure for MND