BioTalentum and Baidu-backed BioMap Forge Strategic Partnership to Advance AAV Gene Therapy Development with AI Large Models

SuzhouNovember 9, 2023PR Newswire -- November 8, 2023, Porton Biologics Ltd. announced a strategic partnership with BioMap. BioMap will develop AAV assembly efficiency and assembly distribution models based on Porton Biologics' proprietary adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector technology platform and research data. Both parties aim to leverage the capabilities of large life science models to jointly accelerate the design of AAV vectors and expand the application of AI large models in the gene therapy field.

Over the past decade, the development of gene therapy based on adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors has significantly driven a new wave of biotechnology revolution. Despite many important achievements in the research of AAV vector construction and assembly, a key step in realizing its therapeutic potential — the creation of tissue-specific AAV capsid proteins — remains a long-standing challenge. The limitations of natural serotypes of AAV in meeting clinical needs have also sparked scientists' interest in leveraging artificial intelligence, especially large AI models, to advance innovative AAV development.

"We are very optimistic about the future development of the gene therapy field, and we are honored to collaborate with Porton Biologics Ltd. to jointly develop artificially designed gene delivery systems, empowering more industry partners," said Qu Jiarun, Senior Vice President of BioMap. "xTrimo, the large pre-trained foundational model owned by BioMap, can rapidly develop top-performing task-specific models across various fields based on diverse data from our collaborators. The high-quality adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector technology platform and research data provided by Porton Biologics Ltd. will greatly enhance the performance of our models, making high-performance innovative AAV design possible."

Dr. Wang Yangzhou, CEO of Porton Biologics Ltd., stated: "We are very pleased to collaborate with BioMap, utilizing AI models to provide higher-quality solutions for research in the gene therapy field. While building a comprehensive CDMO platform, Porton Biologics has also established proprietary technology platforms, such as AAVantage."^®Novel AAV capsid variants and libraries, along with other gene-editing tool platforms. Leveraging BioMap's cutting-edge AI and biotechnology, both parties are jointly building large models in the life sciences field, accelerating the organic integration of scalable experimental platforms with big data intelligent analysis platforms to meet diverse needs from R&D to production, expedite the drug development process, and achieve greater industrial value.

With the continuous growth of data in the field of gene delivery vectors and the emergence of large protein language models, we believe that artificial intelligence will play a key role in gene delivery vector research in the foreseeable future, providing momentum for innovation and significant breakthroughs in a new era of human health.