From decades to years - AI could speed search for brain drugs hiding in plain sight

Here is a story making headlines in the economy: From decades to years - AI could speed search for brain drugs hiding in plain sight15 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleZoe Kleinman ,technology editorandPhilippa WainBBCSteven Barrett OBE is taking part in research with the UK Dementia Institute to try and improve outcomes for those living with MND and other brain diseasesScientists are using AI to accelerate the search for treatments for neurological conditions that may be hiding in plain sight. Researchers at the UK Dementia Research Institute in Edinburgh analyse patient data including voice recordings and eye scans, as well as lab-grown brain cells, to identify whether existing drugs could be repurposed to treat conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND). The scientists hope that by using algorithms to detect patterns of disease and predict suitable medicines, effective treatments could be found in "years rather than decades".

That hope is shared by trial participant Steven Barrett, who was diagnosed with MND 10 years ago. Steven had been planning his active retirement after a long and decorated career in the civil service, when he began to notice a numbness in his leg. A few years later he was diagnosed with MND - a degenerative neurological condition which does not yet have a cure.

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"MND is a horrible disease, it strips you of who you are," he tells the at his home in Alloa, Scotland. "It rips any sense of future that you may feel that you had planned for yourself - all that goes. "His family also did not see it coming, Steven says - showing us photos of himself at work, at parties and at his son's wedding.

Scientists at the UK Dementia Institute use patient data and lab-grown brain cells in their researchBut he describes the trials as a "bright light" of hope for himself and others with MND or similar conditions. One such trial, MND-SMART, sees several drugs tested at the same time as opposed to one group given a treatment and another a placebo. "For me the research is much more than taking a tablet - it's taking a tablet with the intention of delivering outcomes, that may or may not help me but help others," he says.

The Institute is also building a database of people with conditions including Parkinson's, Dementia and MND. Clinicians are gathering iris scans, voice recordings and harnessing AI to crunch through and curate masses of data to spot signs of change that may be early indicators of future problems. Additionally, they collect blood samples from their volunteer patients to cultivate stem cells into groups of brain cells called neurones.

Existing drugs are then tested on multiple batches of those neurones using a combination of robots, traditional lab equipment and computers powering specialist algorithms. These machine learning algorithms have been trained to identify drugs that could convert the neurological disease signature into a healthy one. Drugs which the AI suggests might work can then be put into clinical trials involving people like Steven.

Financial markets are tracking the development closely as investors assess the likely impact.