通过人类的聪明才智ChemBeads:改善人工智能

Not much. Until a group of AbbVie chemists had an idea that could shorten the screening time for some compounds from weeks to days.

Long before there is a medicine, there is a compound. Or rather, thousands of compounds that must be tested in order to find the special few that could one day become a medicine. It’s a long and resource-heavy testing process to identify these “lead compounds” that could possibly be converted into a new medicine.

To test these compounds, scientists first have to make them. Unfortunately, finding the conditions necessary to make the desired compounds can often be a bottleneck, in part due to the limited amount of material available and a lack of technologies to screen diverse conditions efficiently and effectively. In other words, it adds a time consuming, resource-heavy step to what is already a painfully slow journey from scientific discovery to potential treatment.

什么小玻璃珠,粉末混合机和固体化学物质有何共同之处?

并不多。直到一群AbbVie化学家们有了一个主意,可以缩短检查时间一些化合物从周的天。

很久以前有一个药,有一种化合物。或者说,成千上万的化合物,必须测试为了找到特殊一些,终有一天会成为一个医学。这是一个漫长而曾推高测试过程来识别这些“铅化合物”可能转化成一种新药。

为了测试这些化合物,科学家们首先要让他们。不幸的是,找到所需的必要条件,使化合物往往是一个瓶颈,部分原因在于可用材料的有限和缺乏技术筛选不同条件的运作效率。换句话说,它添加了一个耗时,曾推高步,已经是一个缓慢的旅程从科学发现到潜在的治疗。

Like nearly everything these days, artificial intelligence was implemented to improve the screening process. But the robots who expedited the screening do better with liquids, which are uniform. Solids have proved more challenging. While liquids are pretty much homogeneous and easy for robots to read, solid chemicals can be fluffy, crystalline, chunky, etc.

Lucky for the robots, human creativity found an answer. Using glass beads and a dry mixing machine, a group of AbbVie chemists – Noah Tu, Ying Wang and Amanda Dombrowski, all members of AbbVie’s high throughput chemistry (HTC) team – came up with an idea that could help the robots do their work.

The idea was born from frustration, which can be a powerful motivator, Dombrowski says.

化学家们遇到的问题是,并不是所有的化合物都是相似的物理性质;正因为如此,机器人可以处理一些比别人更好。

像几乎所有这些天,人工智能实现提高筛选过程。但是机器人快速筛选与液体做得更好,是统一的。固体证明更具挑战性。当液体对机器人非常均匀,容易阅读,固体化学物质可以毛茸茸的,水晶,厚实,等等。

对于机器人来说幸运的是,人类的创造力找到一个答案。使用玻璃珠和干燥混合机,一群AbbVie化学家——诺亚你应王,阿曼达东布罗夫斯基AbbVie所有成员的高通量化学(HTC)团队想出了一个主意,可以帮助机器人做他们的工作。

这个想法诞生于挫折,它可以是一个强大的动力,东布罗夫斯基说。

After a few false starts, the team was inspired by a process where medicines are mixed with other inert materials to improve their solid characteristics. They found that glass beads can be coated with solid chemicals by combining them in a dry mixer. Solid chemicals are often very different from each other in terms of physical characteristics, but the chemical coated beads have very similar features, which makes a robot’s job much easier.
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\r\nWatch Noah Tu, M.S., senior scientist, discovery chemistry and technologies, AbbVie demonstrate the process:

“唯一的机器人处理固体化合物溶解成液体,花了大量的工作,很多时候使屏幕反应过程更加复杂,”她说。“所以真的没有给固体化合物很容易。我们意识到如果我们想要一个更好的解决方案,我们必须找到它自己。”

经过几次不成功,团队的灵感来源于一个过程,药物与其他惰性材料改善固体混合特征。他们发现玻璃珠可以涂上固体化学物质结合在干燥机。固体化学物质通常是非常不同的物理特性,但化学涂层珠子有非常相似的特性,这使得机器人的工作容易得多。

看诺亚涂,硕士资深科学家, discovery chemistry and technologies, AbbVie demonstrate the process:

Using automation to dispense these chemically coated glass beads – a process dubbed “ChemBeads” by the chemists who invented it - accelerates and simplifies the process of finding conditions to make a compound. Because of this, these tiny beads are getting a lot of attention.

“Good science is all about coming up with a good idea and making it better,” Noah Tu, M.S., senior scientist, discovery chemistry and technologies, AbbVie says. “That’s exactly what we did. We came up with the idea of ChemBeads in 2016 and we’ve been refining and improving the technology ever since.”

Word of ChemBeads spread fast within AbbVie’s chemistry labs, says Anil Vasudevan, Ph.D., senior director, discovery, who over sees the team that includes Tu, Wang and Dombrowski.

“A few years ago, no one had ever heard of ChemBeads, and today it’s a common phrase in our labs,” Vasudevan says. “When this team first told me about ChemBeads, I thought it would have limited applicability. But they believed in this idea and never gave up. I’m inspired by their determination to find a practical solution to a problem that has plagued drug discovery scientists for a long time.”

一ChemBead重一百万克,即活性化学的百分之五,剩下的95%组成的玻璃珠。

使用自动化来分配这些化学镀膜玻璃珠——这个过程被称为“ChemBeads”化学家发明——加速和简化了寻找的过程条件复合。由于这个原因,这些小珠子是得到了很多的关注。

“好科学就是想出一个好主意和使它更好,”诺亚涂,硕士资深科学家,发现化学和技术,AbbVie说。“这正是我们所做的。我们想出的主意ChemBeads 2016年和我们已经精炼和改进技术。”

词在AbbVie ChemBeads快速传播的化学实验室,Anil Vasudevan说,博士,高级主管,发现,在看到了团队,包括你,王,东布罗夫斯基。

“几年前,没有人听说过ChemBeads,今天在我们的实验室,这是一个常见的短语“Vasudevan说。对ChemBeads”当这支球队第一次告诉我,我原以为会有限的适用性。但他们相信这个想法,从不放弃。我受到他们的决心找到一个实际,解决问题一直是困扰药物发现科学家很长时间了。”

“We are the first stop of the drug discovery process and our chemists are charged with screening compounds as quickly as possible so they can move on in the drug development process,” says Tom Hudson, M.D., vice president, discovery, AbbVie. “I’m proud of this team. Their determination really proves that creativity powers science and technologies.”

在一个行业,让治疗患者更快势在必行,ChemBeads正在帮助AbbVie化学家找到一种方法使化合物在两到三天,而不是几周。和ChemBeads筛选与少量的材料,也节约资源。到目前为止,高通量化学团队取得了超过350 ChemBeads,发现化学反应条件团队在伊利诺斯州,马萨诸塞州,德国和加州。

“我们的第一站是药物发现过程和我们的化学家控尽快筛选化合物药物开发过程中,这样他们就可以继续前进,”汤姆·哈德逊说,医学博士狗万正网地址副总裁、发现AbbVie。“我为这支球队感到自豪。他们的决心真的证明创造力国家科学和技术。”

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