220: From 10,000 Structures to 1.8 Billion Interactions: Breaking the Data Bottleneck to Engineer Efficacious Therapeutics with Troy Lionberger - Part 2

The biotech industry stands on the verge of a radical transformation thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). But even the most sophisticated algorithms are only as smart as the data feeding them.

David Brühlmann sits down with Troy Lionberger, Chief Business Officer at A-Alpha Bio, whose team has quietly shattered the data ceiling by measuring and curating more than 1.8 billion protein interactions. Troy Lionberger brings an insider’s perspective from the frontlines of machine learning-powered drug discovery. From partnering with leading biotechs to redesigning classic antibodies for previously “impossible” targets, Troy’s work pushes the edges of what’s tractable in biologic therapeutics.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• Limitations of public data sources like the Protein Data Bank and their impact on current protein engineering approaches (03:11)
• Why combining energetic (ΔG) and structural data matters for building predictive protein engineering models (05:43)
• A-Alpha Bio’s approach to generating 1.8 billion protein interaction measurements for machine learning—what this enables today and what’s possible next (06:30)
• Examples of how A-Alpha Bio’s platform solves challenging therapeutic problems, such as optimizing molecules for 800+ HIV variants and engineering dual-specific antibodies (07:36)
• The ongoing debate: What capabilities should biotech companies keep in-house, and what works best outsourced to service providers? (09:59)
• The potential of synthetic epitopes as vital tools for training models beyond the Protein Data Bank—introducing the Synthetic Epitope Atlas (12:09)
• Key takeaways for scientists: the importance of diligence amidst rapidly evolving AI claims, and advice for accelerating R&D with the right data (14:57)

Wondering how to move protein therapeutics from “interesting” to “impactful” without waiting for years of crystal structures? Listen in to learn how you can harness next-gen machine learning tools and custom datasets for your development projects.

Connect with Troy Lionberger:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/troylionberger

A-Alpha Bio website: www.aalphabio.com

Next step:

Need fast CMC guidance? → Get rapid CMC decision support here

Support the show