Papers for

pharmaceutical researchers

Papers whose findings have a practical use for this group, as judged from the abstract. Open a paper to read what it means in practice.

Gpu acceleration enables fast large scale drug molecule searches

SweepANN: A GPU-Accelerated Large-K Approximate Vector Search for Drug Discovery

Abstract: DrugCLIP places small molecules and protein pockets in one space, turning genome-wide drug discovery into large-K retrieval by vector proximity. A campaign fixes over 20K pockets in advance for one library of over 500M molecules. Each pocket keeps K = 500K candidates, 0.1% of the collection, versus 100 in ANN benchmarks. Missed hits never get tested, so mean recall must reach 99% relative to exact search. Large answers make IVF probe every list holding a result and graph search track K or more candidates, so costs grow with K. On our CPUs and GPUs, neither index family reaches the target without losing most of its edge over scanning. SweepANN partitions compressed vectors across GPUs and scans each resident partition. One matrix multiplication scores each block for a whole query batch, reading it once. Several plans perform the K-dependent selection and merging of each query's K answers, each returning an exact top-K under compressed scoring. The window plan retains each query's best K from sampled blocks as its seed, and only rows above each seed's minimum score, shared once across GPUs, enter the buffers. Four Blackwell GPUs (RTX PRO 6000) answer all 26,562 pockets with a resident time of about 61 seconds, excluding library loading, and 99.6% mean recall relative to exact FP32 search. DrugCLIP reports roughly 24 hours with eight A100 GPUs in its own campaign. On 500M rows, the window plan runs 1.41x faster than SweepANN's grouped plan in the same memory. Across 25M-500M rows and K of 10K-500K, all GPU IVF configurations meeting the recall target take 8.2-24x SweepANN's resident time. On DEEP1B's 1B vectors across eight GPUs, against SweepANN's exact full-score scan of uncompressed FP32 rows, the window plan cuts resident time by 5.4x and 3.2x at K = 100K and 500K. It also cuts per-GPU peak memory by 6.0x and 5.3x, losing 1.0 and 0.7 mean-recall points.

Mon 19 OctDatabasesDistributed, Parallel, and Cluster ComputingInformation Retrieval
The gist
Finding new drug candidates requires searching through vast libraries of molecules to see which might fit well into protein pockets. The authors improved this search by using multiple GPUs to quickly scan and find many top matching molecules for each pocket with very high accuracy. Their method, SweepANN, speeds up searches dramatically compared to previous approaches. This lets drug discovery efforts handle hundreds of millions of molecules in minutes rather than hours or days.
Open → 2610.27306v1

Conditional flow models struggle to predict unseen scientific interactions

Predicting Unseen Scientific Interactions: Conditional Flow Models Hallucinate Non-Additive Effects

Abstract: Conditional generative models are increasingly used for scientific prediction beyond the direct training support. Yet scientific questions often concern whether one intervention changes the effect of another. Such interactions can be of primary interest while explaining little of the total variation, allowing models to appear accurate overall without recovering the relevant scientific effect. It remains unclear how these models learn interactions and when these successfully extrapolate to unseen conditions. We therefore study interaction recovery in flow-matching models using a physiological time-series simulator, drug dose-response data, combinatorial cell perturbations, and molecular conformer generations, where we separate recovery from hallucinated interaction structure. In the controlled setting, individual effects are learned much earlier than interactions and models hallucinate interactions where none exist. Across settings, we find qualitatively different generalization problems, with successful prediction depending on whether condition structure continues from observed to held-out targets. When it does, interactions are recoverable. If not, models can generate plausible responses while missing the interaction. We furthermore find that hallucinations increase as targets become less identifiable, and that successful interaction recovery in output space can fail under nonlinear readouts. Finally, we show that aggregate fidelity metrics can conceal whether models learn and extrapolate interactions.

Wed 14 OctMachine Learning
The gist
When scientific models predict how one factor changes the effect of another, they often miss or invent these interactions even if their overall predictions seem accurate. The authors studied models that generate data based on conditions and found that these models learn separate effects first but can hallucinate interactions that don’t exist. Whether models correctly predict interactions depends on how similar the new situation is to what they’ve seen before. They also point out that standard accuracy measures can hide the fact that models might not be capturing the true interaction effects.
Open → 2610.20288v1

Neural networks estimate chemical reaction paths and rates accurately

Joint Neural Posterior Estimation and Model Selection for Chemical Reaction Networks

Abstract: Simulation-based Bayesian inference for Chemical Reaction Networks (CRNs) must simultaneously solve two computationally demanding problems: discriminating between overlapping reaction pathways and estimating reaction rate constants. Classical approaches, such as Sequential Monte Carlo ABC, rely on handcrafted summary statistics and scale poorly across large parameter spaces. To overcome this, we introduce a neural inference architecture. Our pipeline utilizes shared 1D-CNNs and a permutation-invariant Set Attention mechanism to learn low-dimensional summary statistics from variable-length, multi-experiment time-series data. These statistics simultaneously condition a model selection network to compute posterior model probabilities and model-specific conditional Invertible Neural Networks (cINNs) that estimate parameter posterior distributions. We demonstrate the practical utility of our approach on a real protodeboronation example, illustrating how it handles structural ambiguity and extracts kinetic parameters from competing catalyst deactivation pathways.

Tue 13 OctMachine Learning
The gist
Figuring out how chemicals react usually means guessing which steps happen and how fast. Traditional methods are slow and need experts to pick important clues from data. The authors created a new neural network system that learns from many experiments to tell different reaction routes apart and find reaction speeds at the same time. They tested this on real chemical processes where catalysts stop working, showing it can handle tricky cases with overlapping reactions.
Open → 2610.18825v1

Graph generation model predicts clean graphs with faster sampling

Efficient Graph Generation via Direct Prediction and Flow Matching

Abstract: Generative modeling of graph-structured data is crucial for tasks ranging from drug discovery to social network simulation. Among these models, denoising diffusion models have achieved great success in graph generation by learning to progressively reverse a process that adds noise to the original graph. However, the standard noise-prediction approach of diffusion models is suboptimal for graph data. The goal for a graph generative model is to learn the clean graphs' topological properties, such as connectivity and degree distribution. Because a diffusion model that predicts noise does not explicitly learn these topological properties, it is challenging for the model to output graphs with the desired structural statistics. To address this challenge, we introduce Direct Graph Flow Matching (DiGFM), a novel graph transformer model guided by two goals: predict clean graphs and improve sampling efficiency. Distinct from the prevailing diffusion approach, DiGFM employs a continuous flow-matching paradigm and integrates direct graph prediction. Specifically, DiGFM maps the prior noise distribution to the clean graph distribution via a multi-step process: the model repeatedly predicts the underlying clean graph, and a transformation is employed to convert the model output to the velocity vector that points in the direction toward the clean graph distribution. This design enables DiGFM to generate high-quality samples using only 2.5% to 15.6% of the steps required by diffusion-based models, which leads to a 5.3x to 257x speedup in wall-clock inference time. Experiments demonstrate that DiGFM outperforms or matches prior state-of-the-art models across general graph benchmarks and molecular datasets, generating graphs with strong adherence to ground-truth structural statistics at significantly faster inference speeds.

Sun 4 OctMachine Learning
The gist
Generating graphs that reflect real-world connections is important in many areas, but existing methods are slow and often don’t capture important graph details well. The authors introduce DiGFM, a new approach that directly predicts clean graphs instead of just noise. This method produces graphs faster—up to 257 times faster—and still matches or beats previous models in quality. This means DiGFM can quickly make realistic graphs, useful for things like modeling molecules or social networks.
Open → 2610.05397v1

Fold'EM infers atomic structures directly from cryo-EM particles faster

Fold'EM: Direct atomic structure inference from Cryo-EM particles

Abstract: Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has become a widely adopted technique for biomolecular structure determination. The conventional cryo-EM computational pipeline first combines many particle images to reconstruct an electrostatic potential (ESP) map and then fits an atomic model to the recovered map. Density reconstruction has high sample complexity, requiring large numbers of particle images and making structure determination high-cost and low-throughput, particularly for heterogeneous samples. Downstream atomic model building, in turn, becomes increasingly difficult as the resolution of the reconstructed map deteriorates. Protein structure prediction models provide strong sequence-derived priors on atomic structure, and experiment-guided approaches can use these priors to recover structures consistent with experimental measurements. Yet, in cryo-EM, such priors are typically integrated only after density reconstruction during atomic model fitting. We introduce Fold'EM, an inference-time framework that combines priors from protein generative models directly with cryo-EM particle images to determine atomic models from a small number of single particle images, bypassing both intermediate density reconstruction and downstream model building against the reconstructed map. Across synthetic and experimental cryo-EM datasets, Fold'EM recovers accurate atomic structures both with known particle orientations and in an ab-initio setting where orientations are inferred jointly with structure. In heterogeneous datasets, Fold'EM further resolves distinct conformational states from mixed particle populations without separately reconstructing a density map and building an atomic model for each state. We believe these results open new avenues for structure determination in the low-sample regime and for characterizing low-population conformational states directly from cryo-EM particles.

Thu 1 OctArtificial Intelligence
The gist
Determining the shapes of tiny molecules like proteins often involves making a blurry 3D picture from many 2D images, then building a detailed model on top. The authors created Fold'EM, a method that skips the blurry picture step and uses smart protein models to find the exact atomic structure directly from fewer images. It can handle mixed samples with different shapes all at once and works even when the camera angles are unknown. This could make protein structure discovery faster and more efficient.
Open → 2610.01358v1

NeuronDiscover separates causes of brain fluid transport in neurons

NeuronDiscover: Agent-in-Twin for Mechanistic Discovery in Neuronal Microenvironments with World Action Models

Abstract: Mechanistic discovery in neuronal microenvironments requires interventions and measurements that separate competing explanations of solute transport and neuronal response. Predictive accuracy cannot settle the question: a real mechanistic change and an error in the computational twin leave the same signature in sparse observations. We formalize this twin confounding and reason over a joint mechanism--discrepancy belief, designing experiments that separate the two. NeuronDiscover is an Agent-in-Twin framework whose shared, mechanism-grounded World Action Model (WAM) couples prediction, intervention proposals, and observation design; independently adjudicated outcomes revise a scoped Mechanism--Intervention--Observation--Outcome (MIOY) graph, whose supported relations compile into executable programs carrying discrepancy-adjusted acceptance bounds. We evaluate on simulated brain-fluid tracer-transport worlds adjudicated by an independently frozen finer-mesh reference solver, and on donor-disjoint public current-clamp recordings of cortical neurons. Counting only relations that reach a certified terminal status, and scoring abstentions as unresolved for every method, at a matched budget of 16 experiments over 32 source units NeuronDiscover resolves 4.0 relations per assigned world against 3.4 for the strongest baseline and 3.2 without graph revision, at 5% false support and 82% scope accuracy. Joint mechanism--discrepancy acquisition resolves 3.8 relations versus 2.9 for plug-in expected information gain; discrepancy-adjusted verification lowers accepted-program failure from 15% to 9% at 60% acceptance coverage; and transfer to the recordings yields 1.94 versus 1.53 relations per assigned world. Correctness is adjudicated within declared model worlds and archival recordings.

Mon 28 SeptMachine Learning
The gist
Understanding how fluids and signals move around neurons is tricky because errors in models can look like real changes in the brain. The authors designed a system called NeuronDiscover that acts like a digital twin to suggest smart experiments. This system helps figure out whether observations come from true brain mechanisms or just model errors, improving confidence in findings. They tested it with simulated brain data and real neuron recordings, showing it identifies correct explanations better than existing methods.
Open → 2609.35338v1

Artificial intelligence finds key genes for early liver cancer diagnosis

Potential of Artificial Intelligence Algorithms for Identification of Relevant Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers of Early-Stage Liver Cancer

Abstract: This study explores the use of deep learning and explainable artificial intelligence to diagnose hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and define effective biomarkers across five different stages of disease development using a transcriptomic biomarker HCC dataset constructed via semi-supervised learning from three source datasets. Several deep learning experiments were conducted with different feature extraction techniques and gene sets to identify the most effective features for training high-accuracy models with minimal loss. The best-performing model, using 15 selected genes with the SelectKBest algorithm, achieved 90.74% accuracy, while the model with the lowest recorded loss of 0.3187 was obtained using 20 selected genes. To address the issue of class imbalance in the dataset, a weighted training approach was conducted, and for model transparency and interpretability a SHAP-based XAI analysis provided insights into the model's decision-making, consistently finding DNAJB14 as the most influential gene. Functional validation in this study has provided compelling evidence that DNAJB14 plays an important role in the adverse properties of HCC and that its inhibition effectively reverses tumour cell migration, invasion, colony and sphere formation. The main limitation of this study is the dataset's class imbalance, and while weighted training helped mitigate this, further research and additional data are needed to guarantee model generalizability. Future studies should also explore the influence of genetic variations, environmental factors, and clinical differences on model performance across diverse populations.

Mon 14 SeptArtificial Intelligence
The gist
Liver cancer can be hard to detect early, which makes treatment difficult. The authors used artificial intelligence to analyze gene activity and found specific genes that help identify early stages of liver cancer. One gene, DNAJB14, stood out as especially important. Their computer model was quite accurate, but they note it needs more data and testing in different populations to be reliable for wider use.
Open → 2609.15638v1

Machine learning predicts drug passage through blood brain barrier accurately

An Explainable Machine Learning Framework for Predicting Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability Using Molecular Descriptors

Abstract: Blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability is a critical determinant in the development of central nervous system therapeutics because it directly influences the ability of drug candidates to reach their target sites within the brain. In this study, an explainable machine learning framework was developed to predict BBB permeability using molecular descriptors generated from the MoleculeNet BBBP dataset with the RDKit cheminformatics toolkit. Fifteen physicochemical descriptors extracted from 2,039 compounds were used to train four supervised machine learning algorithms, including Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). Hyperparameter optimization was performed using GridSearchCV, while model interpretability was investigated using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP). Among the evaluated models, the optimized XGBoost classifier achieved the best predictive performance, with an accuracy of 88.97%, a precision of 88.92%, a recall of 97.76%, an F1-score of 93.13%, and a ROC-AUC of 0.9282. Stratified five-fold cross-validation further demonstrated the robustness of the proposed model, yielding a mean ROC-AUC of 0.8982 +/- 0.0130. Feature importance and SHAP analyses consistently identified TPSA, HBD, and LogP as the most influential molecular descriptors governing BBB permeability prediction. Overall, the proposed framework provides an accurate, interpretable, and computationally efficient approach for BBB permeability prediction and may serve as a valuable tool for the early-stage screening of CNS drug candidates.

Wed 9 SeptMachine Learning
The gist
Drugs need to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to treat brain diseases, but predicting which drugs can do this is hard. The authors developed a computer method that uses chemical features of molecules to guess if they can pass the BBB. They tested four algorithms and found that one called XGBoost worked best, predicting correctly about 89% of the time. They also explained which molecular features mattered most, helping to understand how the predictions were made.
Open → 2609.10012v1