From decades to years - AI could speed search for brain drugs hiding in plain sight

Scientists at the UK Dementia Research Institute in Edinburgh are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to identify existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat debilitating neurological conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND). The researchers analyze patient data, including voice recordings and eye scans, as well as lab-grown brain cells, to detect patterns of disease and predict suitable medicines. By using algorithms to crunch through masses of data, they hope to find effective treatments in "years rather than decades." Steven Barrett, a trial participant who was diagnosed with MND 10 years ago, shares this hope.

"MND is a horrible disease, it strips you of who you are," he says. "It rips any sense of future that you may feel that you had planned for yourself - all that goes." Despite the challenges, he describes the trials as a "bright light" of hope for himself and others with MND or similar conditions. The Institute is building a database of people with conditions including Parkinson's, Dementia, and MND, and clinicians are gathering iris scans, voice recordings, and blood samples to cultivate stem cells into brain cells.

Existing drugs are then tested on these brain cells using a combination of robots, traditional lab equipment, and computers powering specialist algorithms. Prof Siddarthan Chandran, Institute chief executive, says that around 1,500 drugs have been developed and approved to treat other conditions, and it's possible that even one of them could be effective in the brain. "The brain is the most complicated organ in the body, so we've got to contend with the paradox of that complexity," he says.

"A combination of AI and new technologies mean we can now do things which would have been unbelievable when I was at medical school." The research has the potential to revolutionize the discovery of new treatments, as discovering new drugs and getting them to market can take over 10 years. With AI-accelerated research, affordable and effective drugs for neurological conditions could come much sooner.