Happy New Year! We will be exploring new themes in artificial intelligence in 2022: AI in the lab and explainable and trustworthy AI. We are actively looking for subject matter experts and speakers in these areas. We also plan to launch the Good Machine Learning Practices toolkit. Please stay tuned for updates!

• Please join us for a webinar on Combining Robotics and Machine Learning for Accelerated Drug Discovery, on February 23, 4 PM GMT / 11 AM EST / 8 AM PST. Artificial intelligence has an increasing impact on drug discovery and development, offering opportunities to identify novel targets, hit, and lead-like compounds in accelerated timeframes. However, the success of any AI/ ML model depends on the quality of the input data, and the speed with which in silico predictions can be validated in vitro. The talk will cover laboratory automation and robotics and the benefits they offer in terms of quality and speed of data generation synergized with AI/ ML-powered drug discovery approaches. The talk will cover some of the general trends in the industry, and also highlight successfully implemented case studies that show how the combination of robotics and AI/ ML lead to accelerated project timelines and superior research outputs. Our speaker is Martin-Immanuel Bittner, MD, DPhil, FRSA, the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Arctoris, a drug discovery platform company headquartered in Oxford. Martin holds an MD from the University of Freiburg in Germany, followed by the DPhil in Oncology as a Rhodes scholar at the University of Oxford.
• View the recording of the December “Quantum Computing Community Summit” that was run jointly by the Pistoia Alliance, Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), QuPharm Alliance, and Quantum Practical Application Research Community (QPARC).
• The AI in the Lab theme will be expanded upon in the Pistoia Alliance's European Conference: Driving Patient Centricity in R&D on April 6^th, 2022. Registration is now open for this members-only event.  If your company is not a member of the Pistoia Alliance, we recommend that you attend the upcoming Insight into Collaborative Innovation sessions on January 26 and March 9.
  • We plan an afternoon breakout session "AI Implementation Strategies in Lab Automation" in the Spring Conference and we are currently soliciting additional speakers and panelists. If you would like to speak, please contact Vladimir Makarov.
  • The AI program in the Spring Conference also includes a keynote talk by Professor Mihaela van der Schaar of the University of Cambridge on Patient Centricity & AI.
• As a member of the Pistoia Alliance's Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Community, you can enjoy a free subscription to Scientific Computing World magazine. Click here to sign up and receive updates on the latest industry trends and topics.
• Have a look at these recent publications:
  • Machine learning meets omics: applications and perspectives
  • Protein-Protein Docking: Past, Present, and Future
  • The Artificial Intelligence Doctor: Considerations for the Clinical Implementation of Ethical AI
  • Artificial Intelligence in Vaccine and Drug Design
  • Ethical funding for trustworthy AI: proposals to address the responsibilities of funders to ensure that projects adhere to trustworthy AI practice

The Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Community is a great example of the value the Pistoia Alliance delivers to its members. There has never been a more important time to collaborate as an industry, and we hope you find our CoE inspiring and informative.  If you would like to find out more about the benefits of Pistoia Alliance membership and how you can get involved with all the different initiatives we run, please send an email to Membership@PistoiaAlliance.org.