Biologists Omar Abudayyeh and Jonathan Gootenberg are using Google DeepMind's Co-Scientist artificial intelligence system to accelerate research into reversing cellular aging. Google DeepMind reported that the AI tool helps overcome two primary bottlenecks in aging research: identifying which genetic pathways to test and analyzing the resulting experimental data.
The research team runs large genetic screens that turn thousands of genes on or off before measuring how cells react to those alterations. The lab aims to identify genetic changes that shift cells away from senescence, a damaged condition associated with aging, and move them toward a youthful state in tissues including skin, hair, and muscle.
Generating Genetic Hypotheses
Co-Scientist generated new leads by scanning tens of thousands of scientific papers and evaluating multiple hypotheses on reversing aging. The system proposed more than 20 novel, plausible genetic factors for the lab to test. Subsequent laboratory experiments validated a couple of Co-Scientist's hypotheses, where the recommended factors successfully pushed cells into a younger state with improved overall function.
The AI tool also speeds up data analysis following large genetic screens. Connecting screening results to years of scattered scientific literature previously required up to six months of work for a researcher. Co-Scientist analyzes screening data alongside existing literature to reduce that analysis time to a few days.
Research Applications
The system allows the lab to operate at a scale equivalent to having a team of 50 people doing work within a single day. Google DeepMind noted that the Co-Scientist platform is also being applied to other research areas, including uncovering repurposed medicines for liver fibrosis, developing new biological approaches for ALS, discovering liver disease mechanisms, and identifying molecular switches behind new infectious diseases.
