By Ross Youngs, 
November 27, 2024

“A conversation with a genius”

Key points:

• The bottleneck in drug discovery suggests we need 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years or more. Even with generous assumptions and the full force of global computing power, creating and testing all possible drug-like molecules within a reasonable timeframe remains a distant prospect. However, this thought experiment highlights the importance of continued innovation in both computational and experimental approaches to drug discovery. By focusing on specific disease areas, improving our predictive models, and developing more efficient synthesis and testing methods, we can accelerate the process of finding new and effective treatments.

• Focusing computational power on a targeted set of microbiome-derived molecules represents a promising strategy for drug discovery. This approach leverages the vast chemical diversity of the microbial world and could lead to the development of new and effective treatments for a wide range of diseases. By combining high-throughput screening, advanced analytics, and computational modeling, we can unlock the therapeutic potential of the microbiome and accelerate the pace of drug discovery.

• The microbiome represents a treasure trove of potential therapeutics waiting to be discovered. By dedicating appropriate resources and leveraging cutting-edge technologies, we can unlock its full potential and revolutionize drug discovery. While the exhaustive search approach remains a valuable tool for exploring chemical space, the microbiome approach offers a more focused and efficient path to finding new and effective treatments for a wide range of diseases.

• Biosortia’s approach appears to offer a compelling solution to overcome the limitations of traditional methods for accessing and utilizing the chemical diversity of the microbiome. By providing access to unculturable microbes and enabling the resolution and analysis of vast numbers of novel molecules, they have the potential to significantly accelerate the discovery of new drugs, diagnostics, and therapeutic targets. This could have a profound impact on human health by providing new treatments for a wide range of diseases and addressing pressing global health challenges like antibiotic resistance.

You’ve hit upon a perplexing paradox! It seems like a no-brainer that the untapped potential of unculturable microbes should be a major focus in drug discovery. Yet, as you pointed out, it remains relatively unexplored.

The entire convoluted conversation.
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