Weekly TechBio News 🌀
➡️ Proscia Laboratory Leadership 🎩 Report
Last week (June 11, 2025), The 2025 Laboratory Leadership Report was published based on a survey conducted by The Dark Intelligence Group on behalf of Proscia, a report that captures insights from 360 senior professionals representing independent, hospital, and academic laboratories (Majority of Diagnostic Laboratory Leaders Bet Big on Digital Pathology and AI).
📣 “We’re seeing a clear signal from the market.
Laboratory leaders believe that AI-driven pathology is not only ready, but essential to meeting the demands of modern healthcare.
They’re now focused on getting adoption right—especially as strain from persistent industry challenges continues to intensify.”
Nathan Buchbinder, Chief Strategy Officer at Proscia.
According to the report, as laboratories modernize to overcome mounting pressures, many are simultaneously laying the foundation for precision medicine, and 8️⃣6️⃣💯 of senior professionals believe that precision medicine has moved beyond the hype.
In fact, leaders most often associate it with measurable benefits: 📌 more effective therapies (80%), 📌 more accurate diagnoses (75%), and 📌 improved patient outcomes (61%). Some also point to 📌 increased collaboration with pharmaceutical companies (23%), reflecting growing recognition of new revenue opportunities in the precision medicine era.
Moreover a majority (59%) say that 📌 digital pathology and AI will be highly or extremely impactful in realizing precision medicine, reinforcing their central role in the laboratory’s long-term transformation.
Just a week before publishing this report (June 3, 2025) Proscia also announced its inclusion in Fierce Medtech’s “Fierce 15” of 2025, which honors private companies making an outsized impact on healthcare. Proscia earned its spot in this list for its AI pathology leadership 🎩 across the precision medicine value chain (Fierce Medtech Names AI Pathology Leader Proscia to 2025 Fierce 15). (View the full Fierce 15 list here).
More specifically ➡️ Proscia is offering the Concentriq® platform that delivers a uniquely comprehensive approach to AI from drug discovery to diagnostics. The platform incorporates a portfolio of best-in-class applications, tools for building algorithms, and AI-native features into routine workflows, helping its user base of over 12,000 pathologists and scientists to drive efficiencies, identify novel biomarkers, and develop and deploy companion diagnostics. So far, Concentriq is trusted by 1️⃣6️⃣ of the top 2️⃣0️⃣ pharmaceutical companies as well as major laboratories set to diagnose 3️⃣2️⃣, 0️⃣ 0️⃣ 0️⃣ patients per day on the platform this year.
Additionally to this honor, Proscia lately had also a series of high-impact milestones:
▶️ On May 30, 2025, Labcorp announced it adopted Concentriq LS to accelerate clinical trials and companion diagnostic development as part of its expanded precision oncology portfolio.
Labcorp’s enhanced platform is tapping Leica Biosystems Aperio GT450 scanners and is managed by Proscia’s Concentriq LS image management system, a combination enabling Labcorp to archive and manage high-volume digital slides, facilitate real-time global peer review, and integrate AI-driven image analysis for enhanced diagnostic insights (Labcorp ramps up oncology R&D speed with advanced diagnostics and digital pathology).
▶️ Proscia recently launched Concentriq Embeddings to accelerate AI development with foundation models, demonstrating a 1️⃣3️⃣x efficiency gain.
▶️ The company introduced a real-world data offering enabling data scientists to leverage over 1️⃣0️⃣ million pathology images with associated clinical and genomic data to fuel their AI algorithms.
▶️ Finally in March 2025, the company announced 💲5️⃣0️⃣M in funding led by Insight Partners, alongside Alpha Intelligence Capital, Triangle Peak Partners, and more.
➡️ Immunoprecise announced breakthrough 🚀 in AI-powered drug discovery that validates HYFT™-driven peptide design
On June 12, 2025, ImmunoPrecise Antibodies announced compelling in vitro 🧫 results demonstrating that its AI-designed GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) peptide sequences achieved comparable or superior receptor activation to Semaglutide, a benchmark GLP-1 therapy and one of the most commercially successful drugs in the world. The in vitro analysis was conducted by an independent third party, further strengthening the objectivity and reliability of the findings (AI-Designed GLP-1 Peptides from ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Surpass Semaglutide in Receptor Activation Studies).
The results validate the power 🚀 of IPA’s LENSai™ platform and its proprietary HYFT™ technology, which enables first-principles-based in silico peptide discovery and optimization. 5️⃣ rationally engineered peptide sequences—AI-optimized for improved stability and peptidase resistance—were tested against benchmark GLP-1 analogs in receptor activation assays, and 2️⃣ lead candidates outperformed or matched Semaglutide under controlled assay conditions.
IPA is now considering two complementary preclinical paths for its lead GLP-1 candidates:
📍 Injectable delivery studies, including pharmacokinetic profiling and efficacy validation in animal 🐀 models.
📍 Non-invasive delivery strategies, including formulation work for transdermal patches and exploratory evaluation of nucleic acid-based delivery, designed to enhance durability, patient compliance, and ease of administration.
These compelling in vitro results, arrive just five months after (January 17, 2025) ImmunoPrecise announced the launch of its AI-powered pipeline of both optimized and new therapeutics (ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Realigns Pipeline Strategy, Empowering Drug Discovery with AI and First-Principles Innovation).
IPA (1983, Canada) is a progressive, scientific Contract Research Organization (CRO) that represents a HUB of biotherapeutic intelligence that includes a hybrid of experts and technologies. They provide highly specialized full-continuum therapeutic antibody discovery, development, and out-licensing services (Talem)—with advanced omics and complex intelligence technology (LENSᵃⁱ) that provide greater efficiency and accuracy than ever before.
🖇️ LENSai™ Integrated Intelligence Technology powered by HYFTs® (Universal FingerprintsTM)—that seamlessly integrates massive data from diverse data sources to enhance LLMs and accelerate antibody discovery—was developed by BioStrand, founded in Belgium in 2019, and is an independently operating subsidiary of IPA at the intersection of biotech discovery, biotherapeutics and AI. For more:
BioStrand: The Ultimate Convenience in Multi-Omics Data Search and Analysis🔝.
🖇️ Talem Therapeutics LLC is also a subsidiary of IPA and is focused on the discovery and development of next-generation, human, monoclonal, therapeutic antibodies. For more about Talem’s pipeline: AI-powered drug discovery: update (X).
For more about IPA: Un-locking 🔐 Data to Transform Biology (part III).
Finally, almost a year ago (on June 25, 2024) IPA (ImmunoPrecise Antibodies) (NASDAQ: IPA) announced that its subsidiary BioStrand will collaborate with PGxAI to leverage BioStrand's patented Foundation AI Model, LENSai , to advance the precision medicine field of pharmacogenomics and to support LENSai commercial rollout through expanding LENSai features and market reach.
➡️ XtalPi acquired 🛒 Liverpool ChiroChem Technologies Ltd (LCC)
XtalPi Holdings Ltd (2228.HK) said on June 12, 2025 it has acquired 🛒 Liverpool ChiroChem Technologies Ltd. (LCC), a developer of novel molecules specializing in chiral molecules. It did not disclose a purchase price (BRIEF: XtalPi acquires British chiral molecule developer). XtalPi said that LCC has developed a platform that
“combines AI software with automation technology, and can virtually screen target molecules in a chiral chemical library of billions of molecules, and efficiently complete the synthesis and put it into physical testing with the help of automated equipment.”
Xtalpi (QuantumPharm, HKG: 2228), an AI-powered drug discovery company based in China, is offering a closed loop of AI and quantum physics ⚛️ algorithms working in sync with the data factory of large-scale robotics experiments. In particular, XtalPi’s superior AI algorithms (and so far more than 200+) combine physics-based methods and XtalPi’s advanced automation robotics 👾 to accelerate small molecule discovery, macro-molecular discovery, amplified chemical synthesis, and solid state formulation. Founded by a group of quantum physicists at MIT, XtalPi offers its Intelligent Digital Drug Discovery and Development (ID4) platform—incorporating QM, AI and high-performance cloud computing algorithms—to predict with high precision physiochemical and pharmaceutical properties of small-molecule drug candidates, as well as their crystal structures, enabling successful drug discovery.
📌 In 2018, Pfizer launched a new collaboration with XtalPi (also known as 晶泰科技) to model small-molecule drugs as part of its discovery and development efforts. 📌 In 2023, Eli Lilly and XtalPi inked a $250M deal for AI-powered drug discovery, using AI and robotics to uncover first-in-class therapeutics. 📌 Then Tencent-Backed AI Drug Discovery Startup Xtalpi Filed For Hong Kong IPO in 2023. 📌 On January 9, 2025, the Belgian biopharmaceutical company UCB entered into a license agreement with Ailux Biologics, the biologics discovery division of XtalPi, to leverage its AI platform, the XtalFold platform, (UCB collaborates with Ailux to accelerate biologics discovery).
Ailux Biologics is a division of XtalPi (QuantumPharm Inc, Legal Name XtalPi Inc, 晶泰控股有限公司) dedicated to the innovation in large molecule drug discovery, and is offering: XtalFold: An Industry-leading protein complex prediction algorithm, XenProt: The generative biologics design from a massive sequence space, and XenTient: A predictive AI suite for multi-parametric evaluation. On October 11, 2024, Ailux Biologics (XtalPi’s subsidiary) entered into a licensing agreement with Janssen Biotech, a Johnson & Johnson company (NYSE: JNJ), to utilize its proprietary AI biologics discovery platform, XtalFold (XtalPi’s AI biologics discovery platform licensed to Janssen Biotech).
Finally on February 20, 2025, Xtalpi raised 💲2️⃣6️⃣7️⃣M Amid Tech Rally to support the expansion of its cloud ☁️ based drug discovery platform, accelerating the development of novel therapeutics (NEWS WRAP: Surging Xtalpi seizes on tech rally to raise $267M).
➡️ BullFrog AI Announces Strategic Collaboration 🤝 with Sygnature Discovery
On June 12, 2025, BullFrog AI Foldings Inc announced a strategic collaboration with Sygnature Discovery, a leading UK-based contract research organization (CRO) specializing in drug discovery, that will introduce BullFrog Data Networks™—BullFrog’s proprietary AI-driven data insights platform powered by the bfLEAP™ engine—to Sygnature’s global client base of relevant biopharma companies. The collaboration is expected to greatly accelerate brand recognition and user uptake to generate between 💲1️⃣5️⃣-💲3️⃣0️⃣ M in revenue for BullFrog AI through 2028 (BullFrog AI Announces Strategic Collaboration with Sygnature Discovery to Introduce BullFrog Data Networks™ to Global Biopharma Clients).
BullFrog Data Networks™ accelerates the exploration of complex, high-dimensional, multi-modal datasets, uncovering hidden relationships and novel pathways critical to understanding disease biology. The platform supports vital research applications including early target identification, mechanism-of-action elucidation, patient stratification, drug repurposing, and clinical trial optimization.
Moreover on February 27, 2025, BullFrog AI (NASDAQ: BFRG; BFRGW) announced its entry into a collaboration 🤝 agreement with Eleison Pharmaceuticals Inc, a Phase 3 oncology company focused on novel 🔶 chemotherapeutic treatments for rare cancers (BullFrog AI and Eleison Pharmaceuticals Enter Agreement to Collaborate to Optimize Pivotal Phase 3 Trial), in order to provide access to its BullFrog Data Networks™ AI solution to enhance clinical trial efficiency and patient insights for Eleison’s programmed clinical trial. Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.
Bullfrog AI Holdings Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a digital biopharmaceutical company that focuses on AI/ML driven analysis of data sets in medicine and healthcare in the United States. bfLEAP™, developed at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and exclusively licensed to BullFrog AI, is a unique graph analytic AI platform that rapidly detects anomalies and uncovers hidden associations within disparate, multimodal, and incomplete data sets.
At its core, the bfLEAP™ platform designed for biological and clinical data sets, is creating comprehensive data networks ready for in-depth analysis, and can be used for drug discovery, patient segmentation, drug repurposing, target discovery, and enhanced clinical trial analysis.
Moreover on May 16, 2024, BullFrog announced significant advancements in its collaboration with the Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD), including the identification of potential drug targets for multiple neuropsychiatric conditions. The collaboration between BullFrog AI and LIBD, announced in September 2023, leverages the bfLEAP™ platform to mine LIBD’s comprehensive brain 🧠 data, that includes 📍transcriptomic, 📍genomic, 📍DNA methylation, 📍cell-line, 📍clinical and 📍 imaging data from over 2️⃣8️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ brain samples. Early results announced in January 2024 highlighted the ability to stratify brain expression data, revealing biological subtypes within psychiatric disorders.
In particular, BullFrog AI and LIBD have made remarkable progress in identifying novel subgroups between and within neuropsychiatric disorders, including major depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and the team has successfully clustered patients by expression levels of gene isoforms across multiple brain regions. For each identified cluster, key genes have been pinpointed that explain cluster membership. To prioritize these genes for wet lab validation, BullFrog AI is now applying state-of-the-art causal AI/ML, a crucial step for confirming the therapeutic potential of the identified targets.
Apart from the LIBD collaboration progression, on October 09, 2024, BullFrog AI Announced Publication of Data Supporting Potential of Liver Disease Treatment Candidate BF-114. In particular, the study led by Dr. Lopa Mishra and published in Cell Reports, provided 🆕 mechanistic evidence for the role of 🔶 BF-114 target 🎯 β2-spectrin in 📍obesity, 📍MASLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), 📍MASH (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis), and 📍HCC (liver cancer). The findings suggested that targeting β2-spectrin with BF-114 can prevent the progression of liver diseases. BF-114 is currently in the discovery phase.
Apart from the BF-114 candidate, Bullfrog is working also with:
🔶 BF-222 (SMALL MOLECULE): GLIOBLASTOMA, PHASE 1
🔶 BF-223 (SMALL MOLECULE): GLIOBLASTOMA, PHASE 1
🔶 MODIFIED HSV-1: COLORECTAL CANCER, DISCOVERY
Finally, the VP of AI, Dr. Enrique García-Rivera presented at Google's inaugural Cancer AI Symposium on October 30, 2024, in Boston showcasing BullFrog’s proprietary bfLEAP™ platform. Apart from highlighting the company's collaboration with the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Dr. García-Rivera introduced BullFrog AI's 🆕 'AlgoLLM' system for gene prioritization, which uses large language models to streamline the discovery of actionable insights in neuropsychiatric disorders and other diseases.
➡️ Genesis Therapeutics Appoints 🪑 Aleksandra Faust
Genesis Therapeutics just announced (June 12, 2025) the appointment of Aleksandra Faust, Ph.D., as Chief AI Officer. Former Google DeepMind Director brings over two decades of AI research expertise and industrial leadership to Genesis’ AI platform and high-performing research teams (Genesis Therapeutics Appoints Aleksandra Faust as Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer).
Genesis Therapeutics (South San Francisco, California, US, 2019) (spun out of Stanford University), has created an advanced molecular AI platform–namely 🪸GEMS, Genesis Exploration of Molecular Space—which integrates DL and molecular simulations for property prediction and language models for molecular generation. Genesis has also developed 🪸Dynamic PotentialNet as a proprietary approach to predict potency, selectivity and ADMET, that provides GEMS with unprecedented speed and accuracy in property predictions, including for data-poor and previously undruggable targets.
Key components of its platform have been rigorously tested against current state-of-the-art methods in a collaboration between Stanford university and a top-five pharma company. So far, they achieved a step-change improvement predicting 20+ different ADMET properties (Improvement in ADMET Prediction with Multitask Deep Featurization).
Their Director of ML Research, Maruan Al-Shedivat, PhD, gave a year ago (July 2024) a great talk at ICML that highlights Genesis’ pioneering work on modeling biomolecular systems at atomic precision and fidelity. Watch the recording to learn about some of the challenges in our field and see how their team leverages diffusion-based generative models to drive forward small molecule drug discovery. Check it out here: Driving Small Molecule Drug Discovery with Generative Modeling.
On September 10, 2024, Gilead inked $35M collaboration with AI drug discovery outfit Genesis. Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD) has agreed to pay its new partner 💲3️⃣5️⃣M up front for AI-based drug discovery work on three undisclosed targets. Further, Gilead will have an option to nominate additional targets for a predetermined per-target fee.
Genesis also partnered with:
Genesis Therapeutics announced in 2020 that it has entered into a multi-target collaboration agreement with Genentech to leverage Genesis’ graph ML and drug discovery expertise to identify innovative drug candidates.
In 2022, Genesis partnered with Lilly (NYSE: LLY) to deploy GEMS across a range of therapeutic areas. Genesis received 💲2️⃣0️⃣ M in upfront payment to collaborate on 3 initial targets, with a potential total deal value of $💲6️⃣7️⃣0️⃣M.
Finally on August 21, 2023, Genesis announced that it has closed an oversubscribed 💲2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣M round of Series B financing, to evolve into a clinical stage company, further invest in its state-of-the-art AI platform and expand its discovery pipeline (Genesis Therapeutics Closes Oversubscribed $200 Million Series B).
➡️ Rakovina Therapeutics will attend the 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ BIO International Convention
On June 12, 2025, Rakovina Therapeutics Inc. (TSX-V: RKV) announced that members of its executive team will attend the 2025 BIO International Convention, taking place June 16th – 19th in Boston, Massachusetts (Rakovina Therapeutics to Attend BIO International Convention to Advance Strategic Partnering Opportunities).
Rakovina Therapeutics (TSX.V: RKV) in Canada, Vancouver 🍁 is developing the Deep Docking™ AI (DD) that is a novel DL platform suitable for docking billions of molecular structures in a rapid and accurate way by utilizing quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) deep models, trained on docking scores of subsets of a chemical library, to approximate the docking outcome for yet unprocessed entries and therefore to remove unfavorable molecules in an iterative manner (Deep Docking: A Deep Learning Platform for Augmentation of Structure Based Drug Discovery).
The company during the upcoming event will showcase 🎤 its pipeline of novel DNA damage response (DDR) inhibitors, including drug candidates discovered through 2️⃣ proprietary AI-driven platforms from a collaboration with Variational—📍Deep Docking and 📍Variational AI’s generative technology—(Rakovina Therapeutics and Variational AI Strengthen Partnership, Rakovina Therapeutics and Variational AI Announced a Drug Discovery Collaboration) ➡️
▶️ KT-3000 Series, a novel class of dual-function small molecule inhibitors combining PARP and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition in a single agent. Pre-clinical data demonstrated that lead candidates for the kt-3000 series retain anti-tumor activity in cancers that are resistant to treatment with FDA-approved PARP inhibitors.
▶️ KT-2000AI Series, features highly selective PARP1 inhibitors designed to penetrate the blood-brain-barrier, addressing a critical unmet need in the treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumors.
▶️ KT-5000AI Series, focuses on highly selective ATR inhibitors, a key target in the DNA damage response pathway. ATR inhibition has emerged as a promising strategy to exploit tumor vulnerabilities in cancers.
Rakovina Therapeutics was founded in 2021 by Jeffrey Bacha, a serial entrepreneur with startups and companies operating in the biotechnology and life sciences fields. On April 22, 2025, Rakovina announced its new Scientific Advisor and collaborator, Dr. Artem Cherkasov (Rakovina Therapeutics Congratulates Scientific Advisor Dr. Artem Cherkasov on Global Recognition for Breakthrough AI Innovation in Drug Discovery). Dr. Artem Cherkasov is a professor 👨🎓 at the University of British Columbia and a principal investigator with the Vancouver Prostate Centre. Recently he was featured by the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) in an article titled “AI innovation puts VCHRI scientist at forefront of global drug discovery avenues”, that highlights his groundbreaking contributions to the use of AI in computational drug modeling and the development of the Deep Docking™ platform—an AI engine capable of screening billions of molecules to identify the most promising drug candidates with speed and precision.
Further to Dr. Artem Cherkasov’s appointment 🪑, on May 05, 2025 Rakovina also announced the appointment of Dr. David M. Kideckel, Ph.D., MBA, as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), subject to approval from the TSX Venture Exchange (“TSXV”) (Rakovina Therapeutics Announces Appointment of Dr. David Kideckel as Chief Financial Officer). Dr. Kideckel is the Founder and Principal of the Kideckel Advisory Group Inc, which provides fractional CFO, Chief Business Officer (CBO), and capital markets services to TSX- and Nasdaq-listed companies, as well as private corporations.
➡️ Receptor AI incorporates the REAXENSETM platform, developed by Reaxense
Receptor.AI just announced the incorporation of the REAXENSETM platform, developed by Reaxense Inc., a Canadian chemical and biotechnology company specializing in custom synthesis services and supply of drug-like molecules, into its multiplatform ecosystem (Receptor.AI Incorporates The REAXENSE Platform to Expand Full-Stack Drug Discovery Capabilities).
REAXENSETM integrates 4️⃣ chemical spaces:
🔺ChemoVista™: a curated space of 8️⃣M+ in-stock small molecules, optimized for hit discovery and lead optimization. QC-validated and ready for high-throughput campaigns.
🔺VirtuSynthium™: a space of 1️⃣0️⃣¹⁶ synthesis-ready virtual compounds, built from over 1️⃣ million qualified reagents and 1️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣+ reaction rules, with real-time feasibility and rapid make-on-demand synthesis.
🔺OmniPeptide Nexus™: for designing and optimizing peptides of 2️⃣ to 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ amino acids, including cyclic, stapled, or chemically modified variants. Supports real-time 3D modeling, ADMET scoring, and synthesis-ready output.
🔺MacroCyclePro™: for creating macrocyclic scaffolds and peptidomimetics tailored for permeability and target engagement, ideal for modulating protein–protein interactions or bRo5 space.
Additionally, on October 24, 2024 Receptor.AI and Reaxense Inc (a leading provider of chemical synthesis services) launched a comprehensive line of focused on-demand libraries targeting 8️⃣,8️⃣0️⃣1️⃣ proteins. By leveraging cutting-edge virtual screening and advanced parameter assessment, these libraries represent the future of precision drug discovery (Receptor.AI and Reaxense Inc. Present Innovative AI-Driven Focused On-Demand Libraries for Drug Discovery).
Receptor.AI is a preclinical TechBio company specializing in generative AI for drug discovery and its NVIDIA Cloud Validated multiplatform ecosystem (Chemical Space Preprocessing, Massive Virtual Screening, Precision Screening, ADMET) empowers researchers to design small molecules, peptides and induced proximity agents with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Receptor is known for developing ArtiDock: fast and accurate ML approach to protein-ligand docking based on multimodal data augmentation, a DL technique for predicting ligand poses in the protein binding pockets (aka “AI docking”), which is based on augmenting inherently limited training data with algorithmically generated artificial binding pockets and the ensembles of representative conformations of the ligand-protein complexes obtained from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. More specifically, the upgraded 🆕 version ArtiDock 2.5 provides enhanced capabilities for predicting the binding poses of small molecule ligands in different pocket representations accounting for the non-standard residues, ions and co-factors, surpassing classic docking techniques.
At Receptor.AI they are currently engaged in 4 internal projects (pipeline) progressing from hit discovery to preclinical stage: 💠 RAI-001 (Small Molecule, Nephropathy) (IND enabling), 💠 RAI-002 (Small Molecule, Oncology) (Early Discovery), 💠 RAI-004 (Small Molecule, Inflammation) (Early Discovery), and 💠 RAI-003 (Peptide, Cardiomyopathy) (Early Discovery).
On April 2, 2025, Receptor.AI announced a 🆕 research collaboration with Ono Pharmaceutical aimed at designing novel drug candidates (Receptor.AI and Ono Pharmaceutical Enter a Research Collaboration to Accelerate AI-Powered Drug Discovery). Through this partnership, both companies will jointly pursue the identification and development of therapeutic compounds with improved potency, selectivity, and pharmacological characteristics. Further, on February 10, 2025 Receptor.AI and Moexa Pharmaceuticals Limited (a preclinical-stage biotech company) announced a partnership aimed at accelerating the development of Moexa’s novel 💠 SMAD3-targeting therapeutics (for cancer and fibrosis) by leveraging Receptor.AI’s validated modular AI-driven workflows (Receptor.AI and Moexa Pharmaceuticals Partner to Advance AI-Powered SMAD3 Inhibitors).
Finally, Receptor.AI’s latest work, Leveraging Large Language Models for Literature-Driven Prioritization of Protein Binding Pockets, is about an hybrid LLM workflow to automate the validation and prioritization of protein binding pockets, streamlining literature mining and mapping with geometry-based pocket detection for molecular docking. More specifically, their method leverages Fpocket to generate candidate pockets, which are then validated against published experimental data extracted from research articles using LLM with a series of prompts fine-tuned to identify and extract residue-level information associated with experimentally confirmed binding sites.
➡️ Parallel Bio Secured 💲2️⃣1️⃣M in Series A
Parallel Bio raised (June 12, 2025) 💲2️⃣1️⃣M Series A funding, led by AIX Ventures. The round attracted prominent leaders in AI and biotech, including new investors Amplo and Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce, and existing investors Metaplanet, Humba Ventures, Atypical Ventures, Undeterred Capital, and Jeff Dean (Parallel Bio Secures $21 Million in Series A to Advance Human-First Drug Discovery).
The company also revealed that 8️⃣ pharmaceutical partners, including 3️⃣ Fortune 500 companies, are testing more than 5️⃣0️⃣ drugs and immunotherapies using its organoid-based immune system platform—including Centivax, which completed the first preclinical testing on the platform for its universal flu vaccine candidate.
Founded by Robert M. DiFazio and Juliana L. Hilliard, Parallel Bio is using immune organoids and AI to design drugs. On May 17, 2024, Parallel Bio launched the Clinical Trial in a Dish to predict drug efficacy. The ‘Clinical Trial in a Dish’ 🧫 is an innovative approach utilizing human immune organoids and robotics to simulate the biological diversity of a population, potentially offering more accurate predictions of a drug’s safety and efficacy.
On June 26, 2024, Parallel Bio announced that Ari Gesher has joined as the first head of technology to oversee technical infrastructure and the development of advanced AI and robotics infrastructure to rapidly scale its immune organoid platform for drug discovery (Parallel Bio Appoints Deep Tech Innovator Ari Gesher as Head of Technology). Gesher joins from Insight M (formerly known as Kairos Aerospace ✈️), most recently as chief technology officer, where he spent more than seven years developing and growing its wide-area aerial methane detection technology used to manage industrial emissions of the greenhouse gas. Before that, he spent 10 years at Palantir in various engineering and outreach roles, joining in 2006 as one of the first software engineers at the big data software company.
➡️ Predictive Oncology developed 3️⃣D organoid models exclusively for Labcorp
Predictive Oncology Inc (NASDAQ: POAI) has successfully developed 3️⃣D organoid models (3D liver toxicity models, including a human and rat model) exclusively for Labcorp (NYSE: LH), a global leader of innovative and comprehensive laboratory services (Predictive Oncology Develops Functional 3D Organoid Models Exclusively for Labcorp). Both models represent the liver microenvironment and can be used for the evaluation of both drug metabolism and liver toxicity related to drugs.
Predictive Oncology is changing the game in drug discovery with its 🔺PEDAL platform pairing AI with a vast biobank of tumor samples (1️⃣5️⃣0️⃣K+ tumor samples). At Predictive they make groundbreaking drug-response predictions, from 3️⃣D tumor models—compatible with multiple cell types, drug classes, including small molecules, antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, immunomodulatory agents, CAR-T cells, etc and downstream analysis methods—to advanced formulation services such as an automated High Throughput Self-Interaction Chromatography, HSC™, Platform that conducts high-throughput, self-interaction chromatography screens on FDA-approved excipients for protein formulations.
To conclude for today, Predictive Oncology Inc (NASDAQ: POAI) announced on January 16, 2025 that plans to launch its validated flagship live cell 🔺ChemoFx® drug response assay in Europe and expanded availability in the United States. The ChemoFx® treatment selection marker and tumor profiling assay will initially focus on ovarian and other gynecological cancers and may include testing of other major tumor types of interest over time (Predictive Oncology Announces Planned European Launch of its ChemoFx® Treatment Selection Marker and Tumor Profiling Assay).