This week at GTC 2020, synthetic biology startup Synvivia showcased protein switches being developed to control engineered organisms and aid in drug discovery for COVID-19. The full session is available in the GTC catalog to view on-demand.
Synvivia uses GPU-accelerated molecular dynamics simulations to design protein molecule interactions and was able to observe potential additive effects of repurposed drug candidates on a particular SARS-CoV-2 protein target. After validating these computations using wet lab experiments, they were able to lay the groundwork for a new protein switch that could be key to the fight against COVID-19.
By installing protein switches into an organism’s genome, chemical control can be imposed over any aspect of biological function, including survival. The ability to turn biological switches on and off in organisms allows them to be used as living drugs, which take the form of vaccines, gene therapies, and cell therapies.
With GPU-accelerated molecular dynamic simulations, the seemingly invisible world of an organism’s genome begins to take form. A quantitative understanding of these genomes can be achieved in atomic detail and allow for new biological functions with protein switches.
“The future of biomolecular engineering will be built on GPU-accelerated high performance computing,” says Gabriel Lopez, Founder and CEO of Synvivia.
Synvivia continues to build the next generation of engineered organisms with genetically encoded control and containment switches. To watch on-demand sessions from Synvivia and other NVIDIA Inception startups breaking new frontiers in healthcare, browse the GTC 2020 catalog.
Watch Healthcare Inception Startup Sessions On-Demand at GTC 2020
