Latent Labs has recently unveiled a groundbreaking web-based AI model for programming biology, six months after emerging from stealth mode with a significant $50 million in funding.
According to CEO Simon Kohl, the model developed by Latent Labs has demonstrated exceptional performance in various metrics during testing of the proteins it generates in a physical laboratory. The term “state-of-the-art” (SOTA) is frequently used in the AI sector to signify the best performance achieved to date in a specific task.
Kohl mentioned that the model can accurately assess the quality of its designs, with a high percentage of proteins proving to be viable when tested in real-world scenarios.
The firm’s foundational biology model, LatentX, empowers academic institutions, biotech startups, and pharmaceutical companies to design innovative proteins directly from their web browsers using natural language.
LatentX has the capability to create entirely new molecule designs like nanobodies and antibodies with precise atomic structures, surpassing what is naturally occurring. This approach can accelerate the development of new therapeutics significantly.
The distinguishing factor of LatentX from AlphaFold, as per Kohl, is its ability to design entirely new proteins rather than visualizing existing structures like AlphaFold does.
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In contrast to companies focused on proprietary medicines like Xaira, Recursion, or Isomorphic Labs, Latent Labs’ business model involves licensing its model to external organizations due to the complexity and cost of developing AI infrastructure in-house.
Although LatentX is currently available for free, Kohl mentioned that the company plans to introduce advanced features and capabilities with a pricing model in the future.
Other companies contributing open-source AI foundational models for drug discovery include Chai Discovery and EvolutionaryScale.
Radical Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, Google’s Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei, and Eleven Labs CEO Mati Staniszewski are among the notable backers of Latent Labs.
