Very happy to share that a project with the participation of Sérgio F. Sousa (BioSIM) in collaboration with Antti Posso, Piia Bartos and Astrid Subrizi (Univ of Eastern Finland) has been selected for funding by the Academy of Finland.
This 3-years project (AptaSIMS) will receive 500 k€ for simulations on aptamer design for targeted drug delivery. In addition, to project will also secure access to the LUMI supercomputer, the fastest supercomputer in Europe and the third fastest globally (the Top500 list published in May 2023). LUMI is also the seventh greenest supercomputer on the planet (the Green500 list published in May 202).
Aptamers are short RNA or DNA sequences that bind to their target proteins with high affinity and specificity. Traditionally aptamers are screened using a methodology called SELEX that is laborious and random. Here we want to include rational design into the development of aptamers using computational methodologies. By using the 3D structure of the aptamer and the target protein we can optimize the binding interactions and test experimentally only the most promising aptamers. This methodology can revolutionize aptamer design by making it easier, more rational and cheaper.
More details can be found here.