HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HELPS SCIENTISTS FIND DRUGS FOR CANCER AND HEART DISEASE

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University
Tufts has created a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that could
revolutionize the search for drugs. This model, called ConPLex, is able
to predict which drugs will interact with proteins
in the human body. This is important because proteins are targets for many
drugs that can treat various diseases, such as cancer or
cardiovascular diseases.
The most amazing thing about this model is that it does not need information about
the three–dimensional structure of proteins and drugs. Instead, it
uses a type of AI known as the big language model. These models –
for example, ChatGPT – can analyze large volumes of text and identify
patterns in the use of words (or, in this case, amino acids).
Thanks to this, ConPLex can quickly match proteins and drugs by their
amino acid sequences.
This gives a huge advantage over other methods of drug search,
which require a lot of time and computational resources to calculate the structure
of molecules. With the help of ConPLex, scientists can screen more than 100 million
compounds per day – this is much more than any existing model. In this
way, ConPLex can significantly reduce the failure rate and
drug development costs.
Scientists hope that ConPLex will help them find new drugs for the treatment
of various diseases and evaluate their safety and effectiveness.

NASA has selected ten researchers from American scientific institutions in preparation for participation in the scientific working group of the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The JAXA MMX mission, which is scheduled to be sent into space in 2024, will visit two Martian moons – Phobos and Deimos. It is planned that the mission will land on the surface of Phobos and take a sample of the surface. The sample should be delivered to Earth in 2029.

On April 17, during the 38th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, NASA and JAXA signed an agreement to formalize their cooperation within MMX.