Advances in computational biology and artificial intelligence used to identify compounds with potential to extend human life

BALTIMORE, Sept. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Insilico Medicine, Inc. and Life Extension today announced the publication of a research paper describing the applications of its human signaling pathway-centric GeroScope platform for scoring human tissue-specific geroprotective properties of compounds implicated in the aging of model organisms.

GeroScope utilizes large human gene expression databases to analyze changes in tissue samples from healthy young compared with old human subjects at the level of signaling pathways implicated in aging and longevity. This enables the identification of compounds with known transcriptional response profiles that may be able to mimic the young healthy state in old human tissues. In collaboration with Life Extension, a trailblazer in the dietary supplement industry with a focus on health and wellness, authors analyzed the top scoring naturally-occurring compounds to predict the possible pathway-level synergy of combinations.

"Life Extension is a science-based nutritional supplement company recognized for their cutting-edge products and information," said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, CEO of Insilico Medicine, Inc. and the CSO of the Biogerontology Research Foundation (UK).

"We are happy to collaborate with Life Extension and their deep passion for health and wellness and together we will make a major impact on the identification of natural compounds with critical health, wellness, and longevity properties," noted Zhavoronkov.

The study initiated with 70 compounds that already had been implicated in extension of life span in animal models (Geroprotectors.Org) for which transcriptional response data in human cell lines was available. The compounds were scored for their ability to mimic the young healthy state in old tissues and the list of compounds was narrowed to just a few candidates that were ordered and tested in human senescent fibroblasts.

"We are excited to have these results published, since they served as an excellent platform for follow up studies we have underway," said Alex Aliper, president of Insilico Medicine and the lead author on the paper.

"Over the past year we made considerable progress in applying deep learning to geroprotector discovery and development of comprehensive biomarkers of aging and reconfirmed some of the findings in this paper using other methods," added Aliper.

To predict the possible side effects of the compounds the scientists applied the available transcriptional response data to ensembles of the deep neural networks trained on tens of thousands of samples. While not without caveats, this approach may serve as the proof of concept for evaluating the possible adverse effects of compounds that have not yet been tested in humans.

"We at Life Extension are focused on identifying natural products with critical health and wellness properties," said Andrew G. Swick, PhD, senior vice president of scientific affairs, discovery research and product development for Life Extension.

"Our collaboration with Insilico Medicine will enable us to apply artificial intelligence, sophisticated biologically-inspired algorithms and our knowledge of dietary supplements to the discovery and development of unique science-based products. This paper represents an example of merging artificial intelligence with natural product knowledge to produce leading-edge scientific results," Swick said.

"There has been much progress in biogerontology in the recent years and while working with model organisms, we need new methods for estimating the potential utility for humans," said Alexey Moskalev, PhD, DSc, professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, adjunct professor of the George Mason University and advisor to Insilico Medicine.

"Insilico Medicine is clearly leading the way in this regard. In this paper we demonstrated proof of concept, where geroprotective efficacy is predicted and then validated experimentally in human senescent cells," said Moskalev.

About Life Extension

A trailblazer in the $37 billion U.S. dietary supplement industry for the past 36 years, Life Extension's mission is providing cutting-edge information and dietary supplements to facilitate healthy longevity. Life Extension offers a full-range of premium-quality dietary supplements as well as unique, scientifically-supported formulas. The company's products are developed based on scientific studies from peer-reviewed medical journals and are consistently updated as new information occurs. To learn more about Life Extension, visit www.lifeextension.com.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, Inc. is a bioinformatics company located at the Emerging Technology Centers at the Johns Hopkins University Eastern campus in Baltimore with R&D resources in Belgium, Russia and Poland hiring talent through hackathons and competitions. It utilizes advances in genomics, big data analysis and deep learning for in silico drug discovery and drug repurposing for aging and age-related diseases. The company pursues internal drug discovery programs in cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, sarcopenia and geroprotector discovery. Through its Pharma.AI division the company provides advanced machine learning services to biotechnology, pharmaceutical and skin care companies. Brief company video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62jlwgL3v8

SOURCE Life Extension

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