On March 6, BioMap, a prominent AI platform in the life science industry, revealed a strategic partnership with the renowned AI research institution, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) to establish the first biocomputing innovation research lab in the Middle East.
The lab will focus on two primary research areas: the creation of novel oil degradation enzymes through de novo design, and identification of potential drug targets for treating rare diseases and age-related conditions.
Cofounded in 2020 by Baidu CEO Robin Li, BioMap is a super-scale AI life science platform that aims to decode life and solve industry challenges using cutting-edge AI and biotech, including target discovery, de novo drug design, and enzyme optimisation.
MBZUAI is a graduate research university established by the UAE's visionary leaders to advance AI as a global force for humanity. It educates and develops top talent, fosters an innovation ecosystem, and serves as a strategic think tank for the public and private sectors.
Through a collaborative effort, BioMap and MBZUAI will utilise BioMap's innovative cross-modal biocomputing model called xTrimo (Cross-modal Transformer Representation of Interactome and Multi-Omics) to explore new technologies that advance large-scale life science models, such as protein generation, protein structure prediction, cell function prediction, and de novo drug design.
The goal of this partnership is to drive breakthroughs in AI-generated proteins (AIGP) that address the Middle East's significant requirements in medical health, drug design, energy, and environmental protection, by leveraging xTrimo's state-of-the-art performance (SOTA).
During the signing ceremony attended by BioMap's Vice President of Strategic Development, Jiarun Qu, and MBZUAI's Dr Kun Zhang, the two organisations presented their collaboration roadmap, and BioMap showcased the technical progress of its xTrimo model system, along with its strategic development plan for the Middle East.
Qu discussed plans for the lab's oil degradation enzyme research and how their AIGP platform aims to create a new protein capable of breaking down oil contaminations at lower temperatures without coenzyme assistance. “The objective is to achieve a 10-fold increase in alkane oxygenase catalytic function, which could improve the efficiency and environmental impact of processes such as oil and gas storage, transportation, and marine oil spill cleanup.”
Additionally, the two parties will focus on scientific research related to aging-related diseases, a significant public health challenge worldwide. Qu stated that due to people living longer and the population getting older, drug targets for aging-related diseases have become a research hotspot in the life sciences field. “We’ll team up using large-scale AI models and multi-omics pre-training to accelerate the discovery of drug targets,” Qu said. “We hope to spur on the development of more personalised treatment possibilities moving forward.”
