BioTechniques News
Maddy Chapman
The last 2 weeks have been full of new partnerships promoting the discovery and development of novel drug candidates, specifically in the antibody space. Plus, a new platform enables the design of small molecule therapeutics that can penetrate the brain.
Products
A drug discovery platform for targeting the central nervous system
ChemDiv (CA, USA), a provider of integrated drug discovery solutions, has announced significant milestones achieved through its proprietary central nervous system-focused drug discovery platform. The ChemDiv-built platform has successfully enabled the design and optimization of brain-penetrant small-molecule programs, directly supporting the recent preclinical and clinical advancements of its partners.
Accelerating drug discovery with “paradigm shifting” AI model
A new machine-learning model predicts how molecules will influence gene expression and has been used to pick out promising drug candidates for two tough-to-treat diseases.
Partnerships
Cryo-EM for visualizing antibody–antigen interfaces
Gandeeva Therapeutics (Burnaby, Canada), a biotech focused on cryo-electron microscopy-driven drug design, and Zymeworks (Vancouver, Canada), a global biotechnology company, have partnered to visualize structures of antibody–antigen interfaces at high resolution.
Next-generation T-cell engaging multispecific antibodies
Jazz Pharmaceuticals (Dublin, Ireland) and AbCellera (Vancouver, Canada) have announced a preclinical research collaboration, option and license agreement to discover and develop next-generation T-cell engaging multispecific antibodies. The collaboration will leverage AbCellera’s antibody discovery engine to deliver optimized development candidates for multiple gastrointestinal cancers and other solid tumors.
AI-driven discovery and development of complex biologics
Harbour BioMed (Shanghai, China), a biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery and development of novel antibody therapeutics in immunology, oncology and other disease areas, and BioMap (CA, USA), a company developing AI foundation models for life sciences, have announced a multi-dimensional, long-term strategic partnership centered on AI-driven discovery and development of complex biologics. The alliance aims to systematically overcome the critical bottlenecks constraining next-generation innovative therapies and to build a globally competitive, AI-powered R&D ecosystem.
Bring transgenic mouse-based antibody discovery in-house
FairJourney Bio (Porto, Portugal) has entered a partnership with AbTherx (CA, USA) to bring transgenic mouse-based antibody discovery in-house. The agreement gives FairJourney Bio access to AbTherx’s Atlas™ Full Human Diversity and Common Light Chain mouse technologies, completing a discovery route that partners can now run end to end entirely within FairJourney Bio’s integrated workflow.
eBook | Cryo-EM: advancing disease knowledge and drug development
Explore news, reviews and research articles, as well as a Tech News and opinion piece discussing the use of cryo-EM in drug development.
Presentations & awards
Democratizing spatial biology
Takara Bio USA (CA, USA) showcased their Trekker Single-Cell Spatial Mapping Kit, a platform-agnostic, instrument-free spatial biology solution, at the Human Cell Atlas 2026 General Meeting (16–18 June; MA, USA). Trekker technology is agnostic to single-cell next-generation sequencing library preparation technology, allowing it to be plugged into any single-cell workflow, thus democratizing spatial biology.
A finalist for the most prestigious prize for UK engineering innovation
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (UK), the company delivering a new generation of molecular sensing technology based on nanopores, has been named a finalist for the 2026 MacRobert Award, the longest-running and most prestigious prize for UK engineering innovation.
Presented by the Royal Academy of Engineering (London, UK), the Award recognizes groundbreaking engineering achievements that combine commercial success with societal benefit. For over 55 years, the MacRobert Award has celebrated innovations that have shaped industries and changed lives. This year’s finalists underline the UK’s strength as a global leader for innovation, with breakthroughs from different fields of technology, each making a lasting global impact.
Spotlight: Spatial investigations of complex tissues
For a deep dive into techniques and methods used to collect and analyze spatial omics data, as well as insights into complex tissues, such as neural and oncological tissues, that can be achieved using spatial technologies, check out our Spotlight.
This article is a collection of rehosted press releases, each linked above. Material may have been edited for length and house style. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.
The post The biotech bi-weekly: partnerships facilitating antibody discovery and AI drug development appeared first on BioTechniques.
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