Alan Nafiiev, PhD profile page

Dr. Alan Nafiiev is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Receptor.AI, a Boston-based tech-bio company specializing in AI-driven drug discovery launched in 2021. With a PhD in data science and AI, he has spent more than a decade leading AI-focused projects and building data-centric infrastructure for the life sciences. Drawing on expertise in AI, molecular simulations and advanced experimental techniques, he guided the development of Receptor.AI’s hybrid intelligence drug discovery platform. Under his leadership, Receptor.AI has initiated over 50 discovery programs and formed alliances with top-10 big pharma companies. These collaborations have advanced multiple therapeutic pipelines targeting challenging indications and led to the design of promising drug candidates, enabling the company to achieve financial self-sufficiency within three years. Nafiiev also led the design of Receptor.AI’s multiplatform ecosystem, comprising small molecule, peptide and induced proximity platforms, which supports preclinical research from hit identification to IND submission. This approach expands the company’s capacity to address protein-protein interaction interfaces, often deemed “undruggable.”