The project will analyse drug-metabolising genes to identify variants that could affect how patients respond to medicines. (Image source: iStock)
The University of Cape Town (UCT) has secured $1.6 million (about R26.4 million) from Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) platform aimed at improving medicine selection and dosing for African patients.
The project will investigate how genetic differences affect the way people process medicines, generating evidence to support safer treatment decisions for populations underrepresented in pharmacogenomics research.
UCT is one of 17 organisations worldwide selected for the Google.org Impact Challenge: “AI for Science”, following a competitive process that attracted more than 3 000 applicants across 30 countries. The selected organisations will share a total of $36 million in funding.
Professor Kelly Chibale, the Neville Isdell Chair in African-centric Drug Discovery & Development, and founder and director of UCT’s H3D drug discovery and development centre, is leading the project alongside researchers from H3D, UCT’s Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences and the UCT AI Initiative.
H3D is the University of Cape Town’s drug discovery and development centre, which conducts research to develop new medicines, particularly for diseases affecting Africa.
“Medicines do not work the same way in everyone, yet the evidence that guides prescribing in Africa has largely been generated elsewhere,” says Chibale.
“Africa is home to the greatest human genetic diversity on Earth, and that diversity must be at the centre of the science that shapes how medicines are used. This award allows us to bring artificial intelligence and laboratory science together to close that gap, and to do so in Africa, led by African scientists, with tools that are open to all. Our goal is safer, more effective treatment for patients on this continent and beyond.”
According to UCT, the funding will accelerate AfriPGx-AI, a platform designed to examine how African populations respond differently to medicines.
The team will use computational methods and AI to catalogue differences across more than 50 drug-metabolising genes and predict which are most likely to affect how the body processes specific treatments. Laboratory testing will then validate the strongest predictions.
Chibale adds that the project will strengthen a field that has received limited attention in African populations.
“This is a timely boost to pharmacogenomics research in Africa, which is research into how human genes affect the way the human body responds to medications.
“Pharmacogenomics research is very limited in African populations. Using computational approaches and artificial intelligence (AI), the team will catalogue genetic variation across more than 50 drug-metabolising genes in African populations and predict which variants are most likely to alter how medicines are metabolised.
“The strongest predictions will then be tested in the laboratory, creating a tight loop between computational prediction and experimental validation that focuses effort where it matters most,” he explained.
According to Chibale, the initial research will focus on treatments for tuberculosis, HIV and malaria, which place a significant disease burden on the continent.
Pharmacogenomics prescribing guidelines have largely drawn on European and East Asian populations, leaving healthcare professionals with less evidence to guide treatment decisions for African patients.
AfriPGx-AI will combine AI predictions with laboratory results and mathematical modelling to inform medicine selection and dosing. Its decision-support tools are also being designed for low-bandwidth environments, potentially extending their usefulness in areas with limited connectivity.
According to UCT, the project will make its software, AI models and curated datasets openly available, and will share findings through international research databases.
Researchers will be able to build on the results and adapt the methods to other populations and medical fields, including cancer and cardiovascular treatment.
The initiative will also train African researchers, including postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate students pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees, in AI, bioinformatics and pharmacogenomics.
Leslie Yeh, director of scientific progress at Google.org, adds the project demonstrated how AI could support scientific research.
“We’re at an extraordinary moment for science, as advances in AI open up new possibilities for discovery that were difficult to imagine just a few years ago. UCT is bringing together AI and deep scientific expertise in ambitious, creative ways to address some of humanity’s most important questions.
“We’re honoured to support their work as they apply AI to map genetic variation in African drug-metabolising genes, to push the boundaries of scientific discovery and turn breakthrough ideas into real-world impact,” states Yeh.