June 24, 2021

Britain’s artificial intelligence research laboratory, DeepMind Technologies, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, announced in a recent press release that it will use AI to fight the deadliest parasitic diseases in the developing world.

This will be done in partnership with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDI) to treat diseases such as Chagas and Leishmaniasis, which affect up to 23 million people worldwide.

The company also said it would focus on “underserved” and “neglected” areas.

Commenting on the latest development, Pushmeet Kohli, Head of DeepMind AI-for-Science, said: “We’ve been excited by the potential for this technology to help fill in some of the gaps in our understanding of biology and accelerate scientific research to enable new, effective treatments for diseases. We hope AlphaFold will have a real-world impact on our understanding of disease and drug discovery for communities who are in great need of treatments.”

For more information, read the original story in the BBC.