Discover new drugs thanks to innovative drug design protocols and powerful algorithm starting from mathematical methods derived from theoretical physics, originally developed to study the typical phenomena of the subatomic world, such as the quantum tunnel effect. This is the challenge launched by the newly established Sibylla Biotech, a Spin-off company of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), of the Universities of Trento and Perugia, and on which the Vertis Venture 3 Tech Transfer fund has decided to invest 2.4 million euros. The investment was announced today at a press conference in Trento organized by Hit-Hub Innovation Trentino.
The founding partners of Sibylla Biotech have developed an innovative platform for the discovery of new pharmacological targets by exploiting skills ranging from sub-nuclear physics, to computer science, to cell biology, to pharmaceutical chemistry, where interdisciplinarity is the winning key. Sibylla, which will now continue the development of the technology, has acquired the license of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), the University of Trento and the Telethon Foundation which funded the research.
The key of this new approach to the search for potential drugs is the use of a calculation method that is based on mathematical methods derived from theoretical physics that were originally developed to study the typical phenomena of the subatomic world, as indicated by the quantum tunnel, then adapted to simulate complex biomolecular processes, such as protein folding and aggregation. The method has been successfully employed for the study of prion replication, the protein responsible for the mad cow disease, and it has led to the world's first realistic computational model of this mechanism. The study was published by the journal Plos Pathogens and it is very promising for future targeted research of drugs capable of contrasting serious diseases that today are incurable. The result was obtained last July by the research group of the Telethon Dulbecco Institute at the University of Trento led by Emiliano Biasini, in collaboration with the Pietro Faccioli group from the Physics department of the same university and belonging to the National Institute of Nuclear physics. - Read the press release
“The Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) is continuously involved in promoting and supporting knowledge transfer from basic science to society. Sibylla Biotech is a remarkable example in which theories from elementary particles physics became innovative tools to describe basic biological processes. This interdisciplinary approach that involves other important partners, The Universities of Trento and Perugia and Telethon Foundation, demonstrates that a much stronger interconnection between different science fields could generate very important and useful impacts on economy and society. The further involvement of the important partner Vertis Venture 3 Tech Transfer will guaranty the necessary investments to support this very innovative entrepreneurship.” states Ezio Previtali, chair of the INFN Tecnological Transfer National Committee Sibylla Biotech is one of the projects selected for the "US-Italy Innovation Forum" scheduled fot October 17th and 18th in San Francisco. The event will also host the visit of the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella.
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