Gisbert Schneider receives Ernst Schering Prize 2022

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into medicinal chemistry has changed pharmaceutical drug discovery forever. Gisbert Schneider – Professor of Computer-​Assisted Drug Design at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (IPW) in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (D-​CHAB) of ETH Zurich and Director of the Singapore-​ETH Centre – and his team pursue an approach that combines machine learning with the synthesis of pharmacologically relevant molecules. His method builds on the knowledge about known bioactive substances, natural products, and their effects, and uses AI to generate new drug candidates with desired properties to facilitate the drug discovery process.  

This process represents a complex multidimensional problem, where different properties of active agents – including their chemical synthesizability and pharmacological activity – need to be optimized in parallel in order to design new drug candidates. It uses, for example, automated chemical synthesis, biochemical tests, and especially AI methods to continuously improve the design hypothesis through a feedback loop. This way, it is possible to increasingly automate many aspects of this multidimensional process on the way towards potential drugs.

For his outstanding research in the field of molecular design, especially the development of machine learning methods to predict drug activity, Gisbert Schneider receives the Ernst Schering Prize 2022. 

"I am very pleased that our concept of applied "artificial intelligence" has already become a reality in numerous research institutions and pharmaceutical companies around the world and has groundbreaking success," Schneider says. Nevertheless, there are still some challenges to overcome in the future, such as "integration into laboratory automation and appropriately adapted interfaces to optimally match human and machine creativity."

A seven-​member jury composed of international scientists has selected Schneider’s research from among a variety of outstanding nominations. The transfer of his innovative concept into medicinal chemistry and chemical biology is recognized as an important contribution to the theory and practice of modern biomedicine. The Ernst Schering Prize is awarded annually and endowed with 50,000 euros. It is one of the most prestigious German science prizes and honors international scientists whose pioneering research has yielded new, inspiring models or led to fundamental shifts in biomedical knowledge.

The award ceremony and lecture will take place on September 29, 2022. Find more details external pageherecall_made.