Domainex and Pharmacelera Partner to Advance AI-Driven Drug Discovery for Transmembrane Proteins
Collaboration integrates quantum mechanics-based modelling with cutting-edge experimental platforms to accelerate hit discovery for GPCRs and ion channels.
Drug discovery service provider Domainex and computational chemistry innovator Pharmacelera have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate early-stage drug discovery against transmembrane proteins, including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ion channels, two of the most therapeutically important yet technically challenging classes of drug targets.
Despite representing more than 60% of all FDA-approved drug targets, transmembrane proteins remain notoriously difficult to study due to their structural complexity, hydrophobicity, and instability outside lipid bilayers. The collaboration integrates Domainex’s proprietary experimental platforms with Pharmacelera’s advanced AI and quantum mechanics (QM) driven modelling technologies to address these longstanding challenges.
Domainex will deploy its Polymer Lipid Particle (PoLiPa) technology to stabilise membrane proteins within polymer nanodiscs, enabling their purification and interrogation in a near-native state. This capability will be coupled with its Direct-to-Biology (D2B) platform for rapid parallel synthesis and biological screening, streamlining the path from chemistry to assay-ready material.
Pharmacelera brings its exaScreen® and PharmScreen® platforms, which apply quantum mechanics-based molecular descriptors and AI-driven virtual screening to explore chemical space beyond the reach of traditional docking algorithms. This integration of physics-informed modelling with high-quality biochemical data is expected to generate hit series with improved novelty, diversity, and developability.
“This collaboration between Domainex and Pharmacelera combines innovative technologies and represents optimal approaches for drug discovery programmes and is part of our commitment to achieve faster and successful approvals for our customers,” said Dr. Hayley French, CEO of Domainex.
“By pairing our cutting-edge AI models with Domainex’s experimental data and technology platforms, we can accelerate the path from concept to candidate,” added Dr. Enric Gibert, CEO of Pharmacelera. “Our joint efforts will make traditionally intractable targets more accessible to rational drug design.”
Domainex operates state-of-the-art facilities in Cambridge, UK, and recently expanded to Cambridge, MA, to better serve North American biotech partners. Pharmacelera, headquartered in Barcelona, develops quantum mechanics, AI, and high-performance computing (HPC) powered software solutions for drug discovery and collaborates with leading pharmaceutical and biotech firms across Europe and the US.
By combining advanced computational chemistry with cutting-edge experimental biology, this alliance seeks to overcome key bottlenecks in membrane protein drug discovery, enabling faster hit identification and lead optimisation for diseases driven by these complex targets.
Author
BioFocus Newsroom