EBI Workshop - Artificial Intelligence in Health: genomics, protein design and drug discovery

Thursday, 22 May 2025, 11:30 – 13:30. G13/14 Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TQ

Purpose of the workshop

Hosted by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute, this interdisciplinary workshop will bring together researchers at the University of Bristol and colleagues working in the NHS and other organisations with an interest in AI in health to discuss application of AI in genomics, protein design and drug discovery.

The aim is to build on existing expertise and develop Bristol capacity in using AI to:

Analyse genetic data, aiding in the understanding of complex diseases and the development of personalized medicine;
Predict protein structures with high accuracy; model protein structure and design new proteins with specific properties with the purpose of developing new therapeutics and materials;
Accelerate the drug discovery process by predicting how different compounds will interact with biological targets; identifying potential new drug candidates (and repurposing existing ones) by analyzing large datasets of chemical compounds and biological data.

The workshop will be an opportunity for cross-disciplinary networking and new collaborations with a view to enhancing capacity to develop ideas for and apply for programme grants. The workshop will also be an opportunity for researchers to develop ideas for projects intending to make future use of Isambard AI. It will support one of Faculty of Health and Life Sciences interdisciplinary Challenge Clusters with focus on engineering biology to create advanced therapeutics, diagnostics, food systems and biomaterials.

Background:

The University of Bristol is actively involved in research across genomics, protein design, and drug discovery with Bristol's BrisSynBio and the Bristol BioDesign Institute focusing on synthetic biology and protein design and Bristol Genomics Facility supporting a wide range of genomic research, providing services like next-generation sequencing and genotyping. The university is involved in innovative drug discovery partnerships, such as the Evotec beLAB1407 BRIDGE Partnership, which aims to advance new therapeutic discoveries and also conducts research on antibiotic drug discovery and antimicrobial resistance.

Who is it for:

The workshop is open to all colleagues in the University of Bristol with an interest and/or expertise in AI in genomics, protein design and drug discovery as well as colleagues in the NHS and other organisations. We particularly welcome participation of engineers, data scientists and experts in machine learning or other colleagues whose AI-related skills could be applied to the area of genomics, protein design and drug discovery.

Format:

The interdisciplinary workshop will be held in-person over lunch. Light lunch will be provided and participation is free.

To register please complete this short online registration form by midday Thursday 8 May 2025.

Draft agenda below:

11.30 – 11.33	Welcome, format and outline of the event: · Pat Kehoe, Elizabeth Blackwell Institute Director and · Nina Couzin, Elizabeth Blackwell Institute Manager
11.33-11.36	Introduction to the workshop, setting the scene · Ross Anderson, Professor of Biological Chemistry, School of Biochemistry
	Plenary talks
11.36-11.46	Dek Woolfson, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Chemistry, ‘Protein design: past, present, and future’
11.46-11.51	Lucia Marucci, Professor of Systems and Engineering Biology, School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology ‘Title TBC’
11.51-11.56	Thomas Sharp, Associate Professor, Biochemistry, ‘De novo binders to treat complement disorders’
11.56-12.01	Daniel D’Andrea, Senior Lecturer in Data Science, School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, ‘Integrating ‘omics technologies with AI to uncover new cancer therapeutics’
12.01-12.30	Lightning talks – 1 minute talks
	Genomics
	Jon Lees, Lecturer, Bristol Medical School/Translational Health Sciences, ‘Applying AI to understand function and disease of biomolecules’
	Darryl Hill, Professor of Infectious Diseases and Head of School, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, ‘The potential for Using AI in bacterial diagnostics’
	Karen Low, Consultant clinical geneticist and NIHR Research Fellow, Bristol Medical School, Population Health Sciences, ‘The GenROC study - a cross syndrome cohort study of 500 children with Genetic neurodevelopmental disorders : the basis for possible AI applications?’
	Jordi Paps, Senior Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, ‘Parasite comparative genomics’
	Dan Lawson, Associate Professor of Data Science, Mathematics, ‘Can hybridization predict gene function in breeding programs?’

	Protein design
	Ross Anderson, Professor of Biological Chemistry, School of Biochemistry ‘Title TBC’
	Paul Curnow, Associate Professor, Biochemistry, ‘An overview of protein design at Bristol, including tools and expertise available’
	James Armstrong, Senior Research Fellow, Bristol Medical School, ‘Artificial Intelligence for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine’
	Jessica Cross, Lecturer in Engineering Biology, School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, ‘Controlling cell architecture with protein design (AI-powered tools for protein structure prediction and protein design)’
	Ben Hardy, Senior Research Associate, Biochemistry, ‘Using AI-based protein design methods to create novel respiratory enzymes
	Drug discovery
	Hasini De Silva, Postgraduate student (MSc Bioinformatics), Biological Sciences, ‘Exploring the opportunities of AI in de novo protein design’
	Marc van der Kamp, Associate Professor in Computational Biochemistry, Biochemistry, ‘The use of atomistic modelling for understanding antibiotic resistance and aid design of biologics’
	Jim Spencer, Professor of Bacteriology, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, ‘Deep learning based image analysis to identify antibacterial mode of action’
	Ben Faber, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Rheumatology, ‘Using genetics and image analysis in UK Biobank to identify novel treatment targets for osteoarthritis’
	Support for researchers – 2 minute talks
	Richard Gilham, AI Supercomputing Infrastructure Specialist, Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, Faculty of Science and Engineering, ‘Isambard-AI- Accessing the UK's most powerful supercomputer’
	Pau Erola, Research Software Engineer, Jean Golding Institute’ What Jean Golding Institute can do for you’
	Harriet Bray, Research Commercialisation Manager, Research Commercialisation, ‘Commercialisation and Impact’
12:30-12:35	Closing remarks /next steps · Daniel D’Andrea, Senior Lecturer in Data Science, School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology · Lucia Marucci, Professor of Systems and Engineering Biology, School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology · Ross Anderson, Professor of Biological Chemistry, School of Biochemistry · Nina Couzin, Elizabeth Blackwell Institute Manager
12:35-13:30	Lunch and networking , event ends 13:30