Navigo Proteins and Nostrum Biodiscovery Announce a Research Collaboration to Enhance Affilin® Ligand Discovery Using Cutting-Edge AI and Molecular Modeling Techniques

HALLE (SAALE), Germany and BARCELONA, Spain, September 06, 2023 / B3C newswire / -- We are excited to announce a pioneering partnership between Nostrum Biodiscovery, a frontrunner in computational molecular engineering services, and Navigo Proteins, an innovator developing next generation targeting ligands called Affilin®.
Navigo and Nostrum recently joined forces to co-develop a new cutting-edge pipeline of de novo designed ubiquitin-based Affilin® ligands, expanding Navigo’s proprietary Affilin® technology. With a small size, excellent stability, and high modularity, Affilin® are ideally suited for developing next-generation targeted therapeutics, like Affilin®- based radiotheranostics, drug conjugates and more. Combining artificial intelligence (AI) and molecular modelling (MM) tools with the Affilin® discovery platform, the collaboration aims to enhance the efficiency of developing novel binders with high affinity and specificity to a target protein. The concept relies on smartly designing sequences based on Navigo’s proprietary database, and then accurately predicting the fitness with MM approaches.

Sergi Roda, Head of Protein Engineering at Nostrum Biodiscovery: “Thanks to the collaboration with Navigo Proteins, Nostrum Biodiscovery has been able to benchmark its AI+MM pipeline to design scaffold protein-based binders through experimental validation.”

Dr. Ulrich Haupts, CSO at Navigo Proteins commented, “Due to their small size, Affilin® ligands are very well suited for modern AI-based approaches. In this mutually beneficial partnership, Nostrum’s technology provides an excellent opportunity to accelerate the Affilin® discovery process, and the know-how and infrastructure at Navigo, provide valuable feedback for optimization of Nostrum’s protein design approaches.”

Despite many recent advances, the need for better solutions for cancer patients is still very high. This collaboration supports the fast and efficient development of targeted solutions like ADCs and radiopharmaceuticals by streamlining the Affilin® discovery process. Ultimately, the combined expertise of Nostrum Biodiscovery and Navigo Proteins aims to enable a much faster development of Precision Medicines with a higher success rate than previously possible.

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About Navigo Proteins
Navigo Proteins is a premier protein engineering company, discovering, and developing Precision Affinity Ligands. Precision Affinity Ligands are based on small, stable, and highly engineerable scaffold proteins and are functionalized for two different applications: As targeted next-gen therapeutics (PRECISION TARGETING); and for custom affinity purification of biologics (PRECISION CAPTURING®).
Under the Precision Targeting Business Unit, Navigo is developing next-generation targeted therapeutics. Leveraging its long-standing expertise in protein engineering and drug design, Navigo develops Affilin® ligands using a state-of-the-art, fully automated, high throughput screening and selection technology employing large, ubiquitin-based libraries. Affilin® molecules can be customized as mono, bi-/ or multi-specific ligands which can be further coupled to various functional moieties like cytotoxic payloads and radioactive isotopes. With a clear focus in precision oncology and a drive to bring innovative, best-in-class therapies to patients, Navigo is developing novel Affilin® against Tumor Associated Antigens (TAAs) as well as immuno-oncology (I/O) targets. With a growing portfolio of Affilin® assets, and excellent pre-clinical data from in-house and partnered projects, Navigo is primed to advance Affilin®-based biopharmaceuticals into clinical development.
For more information visit www.navigo-proteins.com and follow Navigo Proteins on LinkedIn.

About Nostrum Biodiscovery
Nostrum Biodiscovery is a spin-off from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), two of the most recognized Spanish international research centers.
Nostrum Biodiscovery provides advanced technologies in Molecular Modelling, with two areas of focus: therapeutics, e.g., small molecules design, targeted protein degradation, antibodies, immunologics and nucleic acids, and bio-based chemistry as in enzyme engineering.
Nostrum Biodiscovery’s customer-tailored solutions are based on state-of-the-art proprietary and 3rd-party software, combined with the latest development on AI. Nostrum uses best in-class Molecular Modeling for data augmentation and fine-tuning of dedicated machine-learning algorithms.
With a focus on efficiency, innovation, and accessibility, Nostrum Biodiscovery is committed to providing cutting-edge solutions to the global scientific community.

Contacts

Navigo Proteins
Dr. Priyanka Sahasrabudhe
Sr. Business Development Manager
BD@navigo-proteins.com

Nostrum Biodiscovery
Ali Hosseini
Head of Business Development
ali.hosseini@nostrumbiodiscovery.com

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Ubiquitin; Ligands; Models, Molecular; Isolation and Purification; Chromatography, Affinity; Biological Products; Biomedical Research; Precision Medicine; Protein Engineering; Biotechnology; Germany; Spain

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