Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine has launched an innovative research center that aims to transform pharmaceutical development through artificial intelligence. The AI Small Molecule Drug Discovery Center will combine advanced AI technologies with conventional drug discovery approaches to identify and design new therapeutics with unprecedented efficiency.
Accelerating the Drug Development Timeline
Unlike traditional drug discovery processes that typically require years of research and billions in investment, the AI-driven approach enables scientists to rapidly explore vast chemical landscapes to identify promising drug candidates. This technological advancement could dramatically reduce development timelines for treatments targeting diseases with significant unmet needs.
"At Mount Sinai, we are dedicated to redefining the future of medical innovation," says Dr. Avner Schlessinger, Professor of Pharmacological Sciences and Associate Director of the Mount Sinai Center for Therapeutics Discovery, who will lead the new center. "By integrating artificial intelligence with cutting-edge chemistry and biology, we can dramatically accelerate drug discovery and develop new treatments for some of the most complex and pressing diseases."
The center will leverage Mount Sinai's expertise in machine learning, chemical biology, and biomedical data science to advance treatments for cancer, metabolic disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Three Strategic Research Priorities
The center's work will concentrate on three core areas that represent significant opportunities for AI-enhanced drug discovery:
- Using generative AI to design novel drug-like molecules
- Optimizing existing compounds to improve efficacy and safety profiles
- Predicting drug-target interactions to repurpose known drugs or natural products for new therapeutic applications
This approach transforms traditional rational drug design by incorporating AI-driven predictions. By training machine learning models on extensive datasets of molecular structures and biological activity, researchers can anticipate the properties of new compounds before synthesis, potentially eliminating years of experimental work.
"Vast combinatory possibilities in optimal drug design lead to high costs, lengthy timelines, and low success rates," explains Dr. Ming-Ming Zhou, Chair of the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at Mount Sinai. "AI efficiently navigates this complex landscape, pinpointing the most promising candidates—an achievement unimaginable just a few years ago."
Building on Mount Sinai's AI Leadership
The new drug discovery center builds upon Mount Sinai's growing portfolio of artificial intelligence initiatives, including its recently announced AI building and the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Children's Health.
Dr. Alexander Charney, Vice Chair of the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health at Mount Sinai, highlights the transformative potential: "AI is fundamentally reshaping how we understand and target disease at a molecular level. By integrating artificial intelligence with genetic insights, we can move beyond conventional drug discovery to design precision therapeutics tailored to the underlying biology of neuropsychiatric and many other complex disorders."
Expert Leadership and Collaboration
The center will be guided by a distinguished Scientific Advisory Board comprising leading experts in drug discovery and machine learning, including:
- Dr. Jian Jin, Mount Sinai Professor in Therapeutics Discovery and Director of the Mount Sinai Center for Therapeutics Discovery
- Dr. Ming-Ming Zhou, Co-Director of the Drug Discovery Institute and Professor of Oncological Sciences
- Dr. Marta Filizola, Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and authority in computational biophysics
- Dr. Girish Nadkarni, Chair of the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health
The center will foster collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, and academic institutions to drive drug development forward. It will also provide training opportunities for the next generation of scientists through seminars, internship programs, and AI-driven drug discovery hackathons.
Initial Focus and Future Impact
In its initial phase, the center will focus on building advanced AI infrastructure and launching key drug discovery projects. Mount Sinai anticipates making significant breakthroughs in AI-driven drug design within the next two years.
"The launch of the AI Small Molecule Drug Discovery Center reflects our commitment to pushing the boundaries of biomedical innovation," says Dr. Eric J. Nestler, Dean for Academic Affairs and Chief Scientific Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. "By harnessing the power of AI, we are transforming the way new medicines are discovered and developed, bringing hope to patients who need breakthrough treatments faster than ever before."
Dr. Schlessinger emphasizes the paradigm shift underway: "We're at the dawn of a new era in drug discovery. By combining AI, computational chemistry, and biomedical research, we're not just making drug discovery faster—we're making it smarter, more efficient, and more tailored to the biological complexity of human disease."
