Molecular/genetic data to innovate Cyclica's in silico pipeline

Cyclica公司是一家国际公认的、总部设在多伦多的生物技术公司。Cyclica的目标是通过识别高活性和高特异性的蛋白质抑制剂来重塑药物发现。蛋白质是细胞的主要组成部分，也用于细胞外的酶反应。特别是抑制不需要的或非特定的蛋白质活性，对包括制药、农业和化学合成在内的许多行业具有巨大的潜力和影响。利用计算生物物理学和人工智能，Cyclica开发了创新的软件即服务模型，以针对感兴趣的特定蛋白质活动。他们的两个产品通过以下方式实现了这一目标：1)开发一种新的小分子引发剂(LigandDesignTM)，或2)识别一种预先存在的化合物以测试新的应用(LigandExpressTM，Matchaker)。Sabatinos实验室正在与Cyclica合作测试和改进他们的媒人技术，以用于新的用途。多伦多Ryerson大学的Sarah Sabatinos博士将使用酵母细胞来测试Matchaker如何帮助改变已经批准的药物的用途。Sabatinos实验室将使用药物敏感性测试和显微镜来清楚地定义由Cyclica的技术选择的化合物的效果，并与预期/预测的效果进行比较。我们的联合目标是根据来自非人类细胞模型的数据来改进Cyclica的化合物选择方法，扩大潜在的实用价值。我们的目标是开发一个“再利用指数”来指导药物再利用研究中的小分子选择。这项工作对促进培训和改进加拿大的生物技术、药物发现和预测计算工具非常重要。

Cyclica Inc. is an internationally recognized, Toronto-based biotechnology company. Cyclica's goal is to reshape drug discovery by identifying high-activity and highly-specific protein inhibitors. Proteins are a main building block of cells, and are also used in enzymatic reactions outside of cells. Specifically inhibiting unwanted or non-specific protein activities has tremendous potential and impact across many industries including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and chemical synthesis. Using computational biophysics and artificial intelligence, Cyclica has developed innovative software-as-service models to target a specific protein activity of interest. Their two products meet this goal by: 1) developing a new small molecule initiator (LigandDesignTM), or, 2) identifying a pre-existing compound to test for new applications (LigandExpressTM, Matchmaker). The Sabatinos lab is collaborating with Cyclica to test and refine their Matchmaker technology for new uses. Dr. Sarah Sabatinos (Ryerson University, Toronto) will use yeast cells to test how Matchmaker can help to repurpose already-approved drugs. The Sabatinos lab will use drug sensitivity tests and microscopy to clearly define the effects of compounds selected by Cyclica's technology, and compared to the desired/predicted effects. Our combined goal is to refine Cyclica's compound-selection methods against data from a non-human cell model, expanding the potential utility. We aim to develop a "Repurposing Index" to guide small molecule choice in drug repurposing studies. This work is important to promote training and improve biotechnology, drug discovery, and predictive computational tools in Canada.