Commercialisation of VR for biomolecular design

存在一个市场机会，以建立在成功的BBSRC资助的研究成果，该研究已经开发出交互式分子模拟，可视化，操纵和虚拟现实（VR）建设的工具。这项技术有机会改变商业上重要的领域，如基于结构的药物设计，分子合成生物学和蛋白质工程的实际应用。我们正在寻求18个月的资金，以支持商业化活动的初始阶段，以建立一个分拆公司，销售一套现成的市场技术，使生物分子行业的科学家能够改变他们的研究管道。我们的软件Narupa是一套用于分子建模和设计的VR软件包。Narupa允许科学家进入分子世界，模拟，操纵和构建生物分子系统。我们的核心软件产品Narupa iMD-VR使科学家不仅能够查看分子系统，还能够与运行的模拟和maniplate结构以及真实的相互作用进行交互。模拟是动态的，物理上严格，灵活和快速，可以很容易地适应新的分子系统。它是多用户的，允许团队一起工作，证明了在分子设计和工程问题上合作（包括虚拟）的新方法。我们已经证明了该方法在分子建模任务的用户测试中的有效性;它优于当前的工具。这些软件工具有潜力使工业生物分子研究能够以五年前无法想象的方式加快工作流程并降低成本。我们打算利用云计算，实时研究级模拟引擎和虚拟现实（VR）的独特组合来破坏多个领域的研究，包括合成化学，生物化学，催化，药物设计和材料研究。Narupa还为科学家提供了一个虚拟会议场所，让他们同时居住在同一个模拟环境中，以前所未有的方式分享见解和合作，并促进专家和非专家之间的沟通。我们的工具和方法的力量得到了BP、现代和甲骨文等公司的认可，他们与我们一起投资了研究项目。将新的沉浸式人机交互模式与可扩展的计算资源结合起来的机会，为英国公司提供了一个短暂的窗口，使其成为难以颠覆的既定领域的全球领导者。生物部门的研发活动是英国经济产出的重要组成部分，对确保英国在全球知识、研究和制造经济中的地位至关重要。我们估计，通过采用这些工具，研发过程的投资回报率可能达到8倍，使科学家能够快速测试想法和设计假设。BBSRC的资金将使我们能够在当前成功的工业-学术合同的基础上发展商业实体。初始阶段的重点是推广，通信和访问行业合作伙伴，以确定应用范围并展示初始VR安装和特定业务用途。我们将采取三条线的方法来实现商业成功：1）为打算建立实验室的客户提供完全支持的VR安装（我们已经有两个商业合作伙伴和二十多个学术合作大学）。2）专门的咨询服务，使用VR进行加速动力学模拟，3）销售云信用，以连接各种现有软件包以及多个用户VR远程会议，允许远程科学协作。在资助期结束时，我们将构建可持续业务的框架，获得风险投资资金，以扩大公司规模，并建立客户群。

A market opportunity exists to build upon the outputs of successful BBSRC-funded research, which has developed tools for interactive molecular simulation, visualisation, manipulation and building in virtual reality (VR). This technology has the opportunity to transform commercially important areas such as structure-based drug design, molecular synthetic biology and protein engineering for practical applications. We are seeking 18 months of funding to support the initial stages of commercialisation activities to construct a spin-out company that sells a set of ready-to-market technologies that allow scientists within the biomolecular industry to transform their research pipelines. Our software, Narupa, is a suite of VR-enabled software packages for molecular modelling and design. Narupa allows scientists to step into the molecular world to simulate, manipulate and build biomolecular systems. Our core software offering, Narupa iMD-VR, uniquely enables scientists to not only to view molecular systems but to also interact with running simulations and maniplate structures and interactions in real time. The simulations are dynamic, physically rigorous, flexible and fast, and can easily accommodate new molecular systems. It is multiuser, allowing teams to work together, proving new ways to collaborate (including virtually) on molecular design and engineering problems. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach in user tests for molecular modelling tasks; it outperforms current tools.These software tools have the potential to enable industrial biomolecular research to accelerate workflows and cut costs in ways that could not be envisaged even five years ago. We intend to utilise a unique combination of cloud computing, real-time research-grade simulation engines, and virtual reality (VR) to disrupt research across several areas, including synthetic chemistry, biochemistry, catalysis, drug design, and materials research. Narupa also provides a virtual meeting place for scientists to simultaneously inhabit the same simulation and share insights and collaborate in a way never possible before, and facilitate communication between experts and non-specialists. The power of our tools and approach has been recognised by companies such as BP, Hyundai and Oracle, who have invested in research projects with us. The opportunity to couple new immersive modes of computer-human interaction with scalable computing resources offers a short window for UK companies to emerge as global leaders in established fields that are otherwise difficult to disrupt. The bio-sector's R&D activities are significant components of UK economic output and are critical to ensuring the UK's standing in the global knowledge, research, and manufacturing economy. We estimate that there is a potential 8x ROI in R&D processes by the adoption of such tools, allowing scientists to rapidly test ideas and design hypotheses.Funding from BBSRC will allow us to build on current successful industrial-academic contracts and to develop a commercial entity. The initial stages focus on outreach, comms and visiting industry partners for application scoping and demonstrating initial VR installations and business-specific uses. We will take a three-strand approach to achieve commercial success: 1) Offer fully supported VR installations for customers intending to build labs (we already have two commercial partners and over two dozen academic partner universities).2) Dedicated consultancy for using VR for, accelerated dynamics simulations, visualisation and scientific applications.3) Sales of cloud credits to link various existing software packages as well as a multi-user VR teleconference allowing remote scientific collaboration.By the conclusion of the funding period, we will have constructed the framework for a sustainable business, secured venture capital funding in order to scale up this company and will have built a customer base.