AI-based drug discovery tool free access extended

As the world enters a new wave of lockdowns, Biorelate, a Manchester-based AI start up, extends its free use of Galactic to all researchers.

To aid researchers as they try to adapt to the ‘new normal’ caused by COVID-19, Biorelate has been offering free use of its premier research tool, Galactic web-app – a move recently reported as ‘‘inspiring’ by Google Cloud.

The impact of lockdowns and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is having a dramatic effect on biomedical research, resulting in funding cuts, leading to many researchers abandoning vital lab-based projects. Charities have been particularly hard hit, with Cancer Research UK – the primary source of all UK cancer research - warning they could be forced to cut £150 million per year “as the COVID-19 pandemic decimates income”.

Without the use of labs, biomedical researchers have instead been using Galactic to explore their hypotheses against the plethora of existing evidence available through searches using the tool.

Galactic is a cloud-based deep search tool designed to support drug discovery research. It allows users to cut through millions of biomedical articles to find the knowledge and insights that matter most to their own research.

After a successful trial, Biorelate has announced it will continue to offer free registration to Galactic into 2021. Dr Daniel Jamieson, CEO and founder of Biorelate, said: “What we’ve seen with the COVID-19 crisis so far is both an incredible collaborative effort to beat the virus and yet a decimation of many other biomedical research areas. As both of these trends persist, we hope that researchers can use Galactic to continue finding a cure for COVID-19 without dropping the ball on all the other important diseases in need of further research.”

Kevin Cox, Chairman of Biorelate, added: “We are proud to have had the opportunity to help all biomedical researchers through this difficult period. The response to Galactic has been amazing and we believe extending free access is the right thing to do to ensure our industry continues to thrive.”

Galactic is a tool that Biorelate has developed to allow users to search and explore all the valuable data that its platform, Galactic AI™, automatically captures from millions of research papers. Biorelate describes this as a ‘10 billion-dollar challenge turned into a 10-hour processing job’. Galactic AI™ auto-curates valuable drug discovery data that is typically only carried out manually. Researchers are able to explore how this vast amount of data is connected in ‘causal interactions’, enabling researchers to solve complex drug discovery challenges, such as finding new drug targets and understanding how diseases will respond to new treatments. Biorelate is also collaborating directly with pharma companies to help solve their drug discovery challenges.

To access the free Galactic tool, register here: https://galactic.biorelate.com/register

For more information about Biorelate and Galactic-AI, visit: https://www.biorelate.com/.