Induced pluripotent stem cells are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be created from differentiated (“adult”) cells. iPSCs are increasingly being explored for applications within drug development and discovery. This is because patient-derived somatic cells (for example, fibroblasts) can be reprogrammed to produce iPSCs that have disease-specific genetic aberrations. These cells can then be differentiated into the disease-affected cell type (for example, neurons in neurodegenerative diseases).
After the creation of a cellular model with a disease-specific phenotype, three approaches are commonly used:
- High-throughput screening (HTS) of drugs – Testing large quantities of compounds through automated testing
- Candidate drug testing – Testing a candidate drug against varied disease models
- Patient-specific therapy – Testing which patients will respond best to which therapeutics
While use of these approaches has dramatically accelerated over the past 12 years since iPSCs were discovered by Shinya Yamanaka in 2006 in mice and 2007 in humans, a new strategy for accelerating iPSC-based drug development and discovery is now emerging.
iPSCs and Artificial Intelligence?
On November 21, 2018, Evotec AG announced it had entered into a research partnership with Immuneering Corporation to discover small molecules for rare hereditary metabolic diseases.
According to the press release published by Evotec:
“The research collaboration brings together Evotec’s leading induced pluripotent stem cell (“iPSC”) platform and broad drug discovery capabilities with Immuneering’s unique Artificial Intelligence-driven drug discovery platform to accelerate ligand identification for novel targets. As part of the collaboration, Evotec will use Immuneering’s proprietary computational drug discovery platform Fluency to analyse public and proprietary data to advance identification of novel drug candidates that can ultimately lead to new medicines for rare hereditary metabolic diseases.”
According to Dr Greg Koytiger, SVP and Head of AI for Immuneering, “Evotec’s in-depth knowledge of targets of interest and their leading iPSC platform make them an ideal partner to transform in silico hits into breakthrough therapies. We look forward to integrating best in class experimental and computational approaches to break new ground together for the benefit of these patients.”
To learn more, view the full announcement here: webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=231693
Interested to learn about the market potential for iPSC applications? View the “Global Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Industry Report.”
