AI Drives Data-Driven Exploration of Novel Drug Targets

Dr. Nick Gaunt is a distinguished figure in the realms of science and marketing, recognized for his dynamic career that bridges academia and industry. With a solid academic foundation, he holds a BSc (hons) and an MSc in Chemistry, specializing in Nanotechnology. Pursuing his passion for addressing global challenges, he completed a PhD at the University of Exeter in collaboration with Syngenta. His research on enhancing agrochemistry for food security led to various significant publications, including "Advances in Analytical Capability to Power Agrochemical Product Design" in "Outlooks on Pest Management". In 2023, Dr. Gaunt founded Acorn Scientific Marketing, driven by a mission to provide invaluable commercial support to burgeoning start-ups and scientific spinouts. Acorn Scientific Marketing, which won the Rising Star Award at the UK StartUp Awards after only 4 months of being incorporated as a business, leverages his diverse skill set and deep-rooted passion for bridging the gap between science and business.

Dr. David Hong is a senior lecturer in chemistry at the University of Liverpool, where he coordinates the Chemical AI Applications in Drug Discovery module. His research focuses on medicinal chemistry with particular interests in developing treatments for infectious diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis, and human filariasis. He has extensive experience in high-throughput screening, computational chemistry, and translating early-stage compounds into clinical candidates. His work bridges traditional medicinal chemistry with modern AI-driven approaches in drug discovery and development.

Professor Matthew Todd is chair of drug discovery at the University College London School of Pharmacy. His research focuses on medicinal chemistry, open science approaches to drug discovery, and diseases of unmet medical need. He leads projects including Open Source Malaria and Open Source Mycetoma, pioneering collaborative drug discovery models. Todd is also a CSO at the Structural Genomics Consortium and a senior principal investigator on LigandAI, a European Commission-funded consortium creating large-scale public datasets for AI-driven drug discovery.