Former DeepMind intern launches Atomic AI to 'parse' RNA structure for new small molecules

2023-01-25

Another artificial intelligence startup has entered the drug discovery field, this time on a mission to fuel new RNA small molecules. Atomic AI revealed a $35 million Series A Wednesday morning to boost its computational and wet lab work. The 14-employee startup will use the proceeds to continue building out its so-called PARSE platform, which is focused on predicting the 3D structure of RNA. “There are a number of RNA transcripts of interest that we want to drug with small molecules, specifically, and a major issue across the field is that it is hard to get selective functional small molecule binders to those transcripts,” CEO and founder Raphael Townshend told Endpoints News in a preview. “And oftentimes, the mechanism of action is decreasing the amount of protein being expressed.” In May 2021, while sitting in a Silicon Valley attic — not a garage, like the typical folklore of the startup wonderland — Townshend began putting together the pieces for Atomic AI after finishing up a seven-year PhD at Stanford, where he originally set out to get an advanced degree in computer vision for applications like self-driving cars. The standard ways of finding RNA structures through cryo-electron microscopy or X-ray crystallography can take months or years, Townshend explained, noting sometimes it’s not doable at all. The costs are also high. Atomic AI launches into a burgeoning field attempting to shrink drug discovery timelines and find better targets for new medicines. Last summer, Alphabet’s DeepMind announced it had amassed a database of about 200 million proteins using its AlphaFold software. Townshend interned on the DeepMind team in 2019. Last week, researchers mapped out RNA transcripts in the synapse and are building a biotech, Pioneer Genomics , around it. Within 18 months, Atomic AI wants to beef up its workforce to about 40 employees, including AI scientists, RNA biochemists, biologists and workers with drug discovery chops, Townshend said. The team is working on its own in-house small molecule programs, but the CEO also envisions partnerships down the road with pharmaceutical companies and large biotechs to help with RNA small molecules and other RNA-based medicines, such as assisting with the design of RNAi therapies and antisense oligonucleotides. Townshend said the work can apply to a variety of disease areas, encompassing everything from oncology to infectious disease to neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases and rare conditions. Playground Global led the round. Additional investors include 8VC, Factory HQ, Greylock, NotBoring, AME Cloud Ventures and angel investors like former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, Doug Mohr, Curai Health CEO Neal Khosla and Arc Institute co-founder Patrick Hsu. The startup reeled in a $7 million seed round in 2021. Editor’s note: This story was updated to include additional investor names and correct the location of RNA transcripts with regard to Pioneer’s research.

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