A Quest for a Cure: AI Drug Design with Isomorphic Labs

In this episode, host Hannah Fry is joined by Max Jaderberg and Rebecca Paul of Isomorphic Labs to explore the future of drug discovery in the age of AI. They discuss how new technology, particularly AlphaFold 3, is revolutionizing the field by predicting the structure of life’s molecules, paving the way for faster and more efficient drug discovery.

They dig into the immense complexities of designing new drugs: How do you find the right molecular key for the right biological lock? How can AI help scientists understand disease better and overcome challenges like drug toxicity? And what about the diseases that are currently considered “undruggable”? Finally, they explore the ultimate impact of this technology, from the future of personalised medicine to the ambitious goal of being able to eventually design treatments for all diseases.

Further reading: 

• AlphaFold 3: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07487-w 
• AlphaFold Server: https://alphafoldserver.com/ 
• Isomorphic Labs: https://www.isomorphiclabs.com/ 
• AlphaFold 3 code and weights: https://github.com/google-deepmind/alphafold3

Thanks to everyone who made this possible, including but not limited to: 

• Presenter: Professor Hannah Fry 
• Series Producer: Dan Hardoon 
• Editor: Rami Tzabar 
• Commissioner & Producer: Emma Yousif 
• Music composition: Eleni Shaw 
• Audio engineer: Richard Courtice 
• Production Manager: Dan Lazard 
• Studio Manager: Nicholas Duke 
• Video Director: Bernardo Resende 
• Video Editor: Bilal Merhi 
• Audio Engineer: Perry Rogantin 
• Camera and Lighting Operator: Robert Messere 
• Production Coordination: Zoey Roberts, Sarah Ellen Morton 
• Visual Identity and Design: Rob Ashley 
• Commissioned by Google DeepMind

Please leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts if you enjoyed this episode. We always want to hear from our audience whether that's in the form of feedback, new idea or a guest recommendation!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.