Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc has announced the launch of a new UK-based company called Isomorphic Labs, dedicated to applying an AI-first approach to drug discovery. Isomorphic Labs will build on research carried out by London-based AI laboratory DeepMind, which Google acquired in 2014. The commercial venture has a mission to revamp the entire drug discovery process with an ‘AI-first approach to model and understand some of the fundamental mechanisms of life.’
The CEO and Co-Founder of DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, is also appointed as the founder and interim CEO of Isomorphic Labs. Hassabis noted that this would enable collaboration between the two companies. The new company is now looking to build a strong multidisciplinary team with deep expertise in AI, biology, medicinal chemistry, biophysics, and engineering.
Demis Hassabis stated in his blog, “As pioneers in the emerging field of ‘digital biology’, we look forward to helping usher in an amazingly productive new age of biomedical breakthroughs. Isomorphic’s mission could not be a more important one: to use AI to accelerate drug discovery, and ultimately, find cures for some of humanity’s most devastating diseases.”
